Rohit Sharma could be on the cusp of retirement from Test cricket but an exit might not be too far from Virat Kohli too. The duo’s performances in Australia have triggered a big debate over their future in the longest format of the game. For Rohit, an end seems to be inevitable after the conclusion of the Australia tour whereas Kohli’s case remains touch-and-go. Former India cricketer Atul Wassan has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to have an exit plan ready amid the talismanic batter’s inability to resolve form issues.
Kohli, aged 36, has been struggling to resurrect his career for long. He has already quit T20 internationals and his Test career is hanging by a thread. While Wassan feels Virat’s best might just be around the corner, he wants the BCCI to be ready with a successor and an exit plan.
“Virat has got runs, but he also knows what’s happening. They are very sorted mentally. A player always thinks that ‘my best is around the corner’. I’ll do it just now.’ It’s such a long spell; it’s hurting the team, and there is questioning, saying you should be dropped. A lynch mob comes after you,” Wassan told news agency ANI.
“They also know what is going on. I think an exit plan, like a succession policy, must be clear, it’s not fair on the management, the team, and the cricketing structure, we don’t know what’s there in your mind,” he added.
In Australia, the outside-off delivery has troubled Kohli time and again. Though the batter showed a little bit of discipline in the first innings of the MCG Test, scoring 36 runs, he was dismissed while chasing a 6th or 7th stump delivery in both innings again.
Before the start of the 4th Test, Kohli himself admitted that he has lacked the discipline required to excel on Australian pitches. With just the Sydney Test to go now, another failure with the bat might force Kohli to rethink his future in red-ball cricket, especially considering the way certain youngsters have performed on the tour.
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