Exactly a month ago, we heard that Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar would stay in Australia for the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Why? To discuss the future of senior players in the India cricket team with head Gautam Gambhir. The players in question were Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Big next 6 months await Team India
Fresh from a humiliating first-ever whitewash at home where all four disappointed, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) thought they had to discuss where they see Team India next year. Big six months await with the ICC Champions Trophy, a potential World Test Championship (WTC) Final, and a 5-match Test series against England away from home. BCCI felt it was high time they discussed the future of these greats if they wished to win at least one trophy by the end of it all.
Transition in effect
The discussion seemed to have already happened as Ashwin retired just yesterday. At 38, it isn’t exactly a shock that the off-spinner chose to call time on his career. But the timing of it caught everyone off guard. However, it opens up a conversation. Will we see one or two more stalwarts leave the sport? According to Cricbuzz, that might be the case.
A transition is in effect. Ashwin was just the first domino to fall, and it feels like a déjà vu. Let me expand. Roll back the clock to 2008. Australia travels to India for a 4-match series. Two matches are done; after the third Test, India’s greatest spinner, Anil Kumble, calls it a day.
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Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli, to follow Ashwin’s retirement path?
16 years later, after the third match of the series against Australia, which ends in a draw as well, India’s second greatest spinner, or perhaps even the greatest, Ashwin retires. Some coincidence. In the very next Test, which was the series ender, the then India’s greatest ever Test captain, Sourav Ganguly, retires as well. Now, I’m not saying anything, but are we in for a surprise after the MCG and SCG Tests?
Don’t forget Kohli and Rohit did call it a day from T20Is after Team India lifted the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados. There is no doubt that the BCCI has had a chat with them. But, will they end their Test careers after what’s been an abysmal 2024 for them irrespective of the outcome of the series? They just might own their own or perhaps be forced to.
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