Retirements Thread - Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli [Test]

[pillowprocter]

Without even making his debut?? Strange, WI should have given him a go

beat me to it

 

[Satan666]

The OGs on this board know of my twisted passion for Indian cricket. However I’ve always loved the batsman and person in Virat, after Lara retired, Virat became my fav batsman, even when India won and Virat did well it made me happy.

Undoubtedly the best test batsman from India, and all time great, least in my top 5 of all time greats.

Thanks for the memories Virat, my last cricket hero.

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

The OGs on this board know of my twisted passion for Indian cricket. However I’ve always loved the batsman and person in Virat, after Lara retired, Virat became my fav batsman, even when India won and Virat did well it made me happy.

Undoubtedly the best test batsman from India, and all time great, least in my top 5 of all time greats.

Thanks for the memories Virat, my last cricket hero.

He will still play in ODIs

 

[Satan666]

He will still play in ODIs

Test cricket my love bro, ODis cool and all too.

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Test cricket my love bro, ODis cool and all too.

Don't worry he will surely be playing test knocks in ODIs as well.

 

[asprin]

Virat's legacy should be his Team's dominance over a period of those 2-4 years where he etched his win/loss ratio among the greats (S. Waugh, G. Smith and I forgot the 3rd captain's name). It's also surprising because his tenure was also marred with ridiculous selections.

The Kohli-Shastri combo, as much as I despised some of their decisions, made India look a completely different team in the Test arena. Hunger, passion and focus were terms that one would have used.

While I think both Rohit and Virat took the right decision, I cannot come to terms that they didn't get a farewell. Makes it look like it was somewhat of a forced decision.

NZ home defeat and BGT loss soon after did warrant changes, but I didn't expect it to stretch to such extents.

End of an era definitely - Ashwin and Virat being the most imapacful of the three retirements.

 

[Supreme General]

There were many occasions through his career where I found Virat as a very annoying and quite arrogant cricketer and shared some mirth at his failures at times.

However, one can’t respect his utmost commitment and sheer ability as a test batter and captain as well as a great supporter and promoter for the test format as a whole.

He retires with overall raw numbers that probably don’t do his test career full justice as one of the greatest players of not his generation but one of the all time great batters to every grace the test arena. And with it you start to truly feel the start of the end of this chapter of the saga of test cricket.

 

[Satan666]

Don't worry he will surely be playing test knocks in ODIs as well.

This statement in essence gets me angry, a former member had a whole hate thread on Virat, why the hate for Virat from Indians? Speaking of which perhaps Virat the best ODI batsman ever? Reckon only Viv ahead of him, its neck to neck though. Forget stats but a single batsman striking fear!

 

[icyman]

This statement in essence gets me angry, a former member had a whole hate thread on Virat, why the hate for Virat from Indians? Speaking of which perhaps Virat the best ODI batsman ever? Reckon only Viv ahead of him, its neck to neck though. Forget stats but a single batsman striking fear!

I think we should look at the holistic picture here. It is not about HATE- it is just the way it is. There was a time when Virat was probably the best ODI batsman, but his performance had dipped since the 2019 World Cup. I agree that people age and the reflexes slow down, but in his case, the decline seemed apparent- he wasn;t able to score freely, as the game demanded.

Fans will point out to the CWC 2023 where he was the top scorer and all, but do remember the pace of his innings was terribly slow. There wasn't a single wow-factor innings that one could point to and say- Virat won it for us. Casein point, even in the WT20 final in Barbados. He played well then, but the innings was excruciatingly painful to watch. Had it not been for the Bumrah marvel, Kohli would have gotten a good amount of well deserve hatred coming his way. A good player, no doubt, but went off in the ODI format in the last few years. If he is to make a case for 2027, he needs to be able to score faster- remember the country berates KLR for his slow knocks, but Virat has batted even slower than him.