Make It Clear, Once For All...: BCCI's Point-Blank Reaction On Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma 'Forced Retirement' Rumours

BCCI reacted to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's retirement Photo : AP

KEY HIGHLIGHTS Rajeev Shukla opened up on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's Test retirement

The duo have retired from two of the three formats

Rohit and Virat will continue playing ODI cricket

Since Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's sudden decision to retire from Test cricket in May, just days before the Indian squad for the five-match Test was announced, there has been chatter in the cricket fraternity on the reason behind the decision with speculation that the decision was forced upon the legendary duo by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Following a dismal display in the 2024-25 where the Indian Test team lost a home Test series to New Zealand and were whitewashed 3-0 before losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia after a gap of a decade, Rohit and Virat's decision to bid adieu to the longest format of the game sparked suggestions that the Indian team wanted to move towards a younger group of players in the longest format.

However, BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla played down the suggestion and stated that the BCCI have a strict policy of not telling any player when to retire. He also confirmed that the current and former captains remain available to play the ODI format.

"I want to make it very clear once and for all. We all feel Rohit and Virat's absence, but they took the decision on their own. BCCI has a policy of never telling any player when to retire and from which format. This is on the player. This was their own decision. They took retirement on their own. We will always miss them. We consider them great batters. The good thing is they are available in ODIs," said Shuka in an interaction with ANI.

It is unclear when Rohit and Virat will be next seen in action, as India's tour of Bangladesh was cancelled. There are rumours of a tour of Sri Lanka being organised in August, which will contain 3 ODIs and T20I each but no confirmation on the matter has come yet.

Currently, India is scheduled to play an ODI on 19th October against Australia.

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