Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket within a gap of five days in May this year, leaving a big void in the Indian team ahead of the five-match series in England.
The sudden retirements raised questions among fans and experts, given that both stalwarts had given hints to continue in the longest format.
Now after more than six months, former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has made a bold comment about Rohit and Kohli’s decision to quite Test cricket, saying that they were forced to hang up their boots due to the poor environment of the team.
Sharing his thoughts on head coach Gautam Gambhir’s statement of blaming the team’s transition for the shocking loss in the Kolkata Test against South Africa, Tiwary said that the word transition has no substance in Indian cricket given the rich talent pool of the country.
Tiwary also claimed that Rohit and Kohli were phased out from the team due to unnecessary transition despite their commitment to play the traditional format.
“This whole “transition phase” talk—I don’t agree with it. India doesn’t need a transition. New Zealand or Zimbabwe need transition. Our domestic cricket is full of talented performers waiting for chances. Because of this unnecessary transition, our star players—like Virat and Rohit—who wanted to keep playing Test cricket and protect its sanctity, slowly stepped back because of the atmosphere created around them,” Tiwary told India Today.
Tiwary also slammed Gambhir for blaming batters’ technique against spin and not helping them improve on it as a coach.
“You cannot blame players' technique after losing. As a coach, your job is to teach, not to blame. If the batters didn’t have solid defence, why weren’t they trained before the match? When he played, Gambhir himself was a good player of spin, so he should teach more. The results aren’t in India’s favour,” he added.
Having lost the first Test at Eden Gardens by 30 runs, India are trailing 0-1 in the two-Test series against South Africa. The hosts are facing a must-win situation in the second Test, starting on November 22 in Guwahati, to level the series.
