Follow UsVirat Kohli’s sudden Test retirement has taken the world aback. Not only has Indian cricket lost one of its influential batters, but Test cricket has lost one of its biggest advocates. Kohli retired from Test cricket with 9230 runs, as the fourth highest run-scorer despite having a chance to get to the 10,000 run mark in Tests.
While there’s a whole lot of speculation doing the rounds, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri reckons that ‘mental fatigue’ could have been a driving force behind his retirement call. Shastri also revealed that the former Indian skipper had at least two years of Test cricket left in him.
“I am sure Virat still had two years of Test cricket left in him. I would have loved to see him in England this summer. It would have been a good idea to hand him the captaincy for the tour, but he would know best why he decided to leave. Maybe mental fatigue drove him to decide because he was as fit as any other player in the team,” Shastri wrote for Sportstar.
“He knew his body best, but the mind would have played the decisive role. I will not rule out burnout as the decisive factor in curtailing his career at a critical phase of Indian cricket,” he added.
Read: Mental Burnout Might Have Led To Kohli's Test Retirement, Feels Ashwin
Unlike other former cricketers, Shastri believes that Kohli will walk completely away from the game once he’s done with it. Ahead of the five-match Test series against England, which starts June 20, Shastri reveals that India will miss ‘champion’ Kohli.
“He is still around to serve Indian cricket in ODIs, but I also know that Virat will walk away from the game once he is done playing cricket. He is not the kind who would like to coach or take on the role of a broadcaster. I will miss him when India plays its first Test in England. He was a champion, and that is what I would like to remember — never conceding an inch,” Shastri added.
Comparisons have always driven Indian cricket forward, with Kohli being compared to Sachin Tendulkar, who was compared to Sunil Gavaskar. While not going the comparison route, Shastri quietly pointed out Kohli rewired Indian cricket, and added that he commanded and owned the battle field.
“I don’t like comparisons. I’ve been asked about Gavaskar and Tendulkar. I was lucky enough to share the dressing room with them. But I saw Virat from a different vantage — not just from the comfort of the broadcaster’s box, but through the suffocating pressure that only a dressing room can know. I saw him walk out not to play cricket, but to command it. To own the battlefield. In doing so, he didn’t just win games; he rewired how India played cricket,” added Shastri.