I’m not surprised by Virat Kohli’s retirement after what happened in Australia: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: X(Twitter and BCCI)

The Indian cricketing world is about to see a massive change with the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket. Many cricketing pundits have shared their opinions on the decisions made by the two cricketers, especially ahead of the upcoming England tour. But Sunil Gavaskar, however, is not surprised by the Test retirement call.

Virat scored 200 runs in the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, which included a hundred in first Test, whereas, the Indian skipper Rohit aggregated a terrible 31 runs from three games at a pathetic average of 6.20. The 75-year-old has said that a poor Test tour to Australia acted like a final nail in the coffin for both Rohit and Virat, as the duo has now rightfully hung their boots in the red-ball format.

“To play or not play is an individual decision. But I’m not surprised because I thought, after what happened in Australia, there were going to be massive changes. So I’m not surprised he decided to call it a day,” Gavaskar said as quoted by India Today.

To go out on their own terms is what everybody wanted: Gavaskar

Furthermore, Gavaskar went on to mention that there might have been some conversations with the BCCI and the selectors regarding the future of the two cricketing legends, and the people would have preferred that the two modern-day greats retire on their own terms instead of getting dropped from the team in the process.

“That’s exactly what would have happened. There would have been discussions and conversations with them. They would have had talks with the selectors, chairman of selectors, and senior board officials. That’s why I said this was not a surprise, at least not to me. Definitely, there would have been conversations with both of them because the one thing nobody would have wanted to see was them being dropped from the team. Nobody would have wanted that,” Gavaskar added.

“For both these wonderful cricketers to go out on their own terms is what everybody wanted. They have gone out after telling the world they have had enough,” the former India opener concluded.