Amid Test Captaincy Debate, Retired Virat Kohli Gets Ravi Shastri’s Approval: ‘A Good Idea Would Have Been To..’

Virat Kohli’s retirement from Tests has brought an end to a glorious chapter in Indian cricket. Ahead of the England tour,  the 36-year-old bid adieu to red-ball cricket, in a format he excelled in from top to bottom.

Virat’s contribution to test cricket, both as a captain and as a player, played a huge role in structuring and strengthening Indian cricket. He turned out to be the most successful Indian Test captain, leading India to 40 victories in 68 Test matches, and also guided the team to the first World Test Championship final.

Ahead of the England tour, Virat’s retirement has created a large vacuum in the Test team. Virat’s form dipped in the last two years, but he remained India’s most potent match-winner in this format. In 123 matches, the former Indian captain accumulated 9230 runs at an average of 46.85. Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri feels Virat should have been handed the captaincy for the England tour.

 In an exclusive interaction with Sportstar, he said, “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.”

Shubman Gill has emerged as the captaincy contender after Rohit Sharma’s retirement. As per several reports, the Gujarat Titans captain remains the favourite alongside Jasprit Bumrah, who already captained India in the Australian tour. In Rohit’s absence, Bumrah led the Indian Team to that famous win in Perth while he also captained in the last Test. Gill has been impressive with his leadership acumen in the ongoing IPL 2025 and it might play a major role in his promotion.