Last home season, Rohit and Kohli struggled to turn their good starts into big scores, making them less dependable. In Australia, Kohli scored a century but quickly lost form, ending with only 190 runs in 10 innings.
Two cricket legends, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli decided to hang up their Test match boots just before the five-match tour to England. Both faced a tough time during the recent tour to Australia, which sparked discussions about their future in the longest format of the game. Rohit had expressed his wish to keep playing Test cricket on several occasions, but ultimately, he announced his retirement during the IPL.
Virat Kohli soon followed in his footsteps. Reflecting on their absence, the newly appointed Test captain, Shubman Gill, acknowledged the challenge of filling the gap left by these two iconic players. Still, he’s confident that the rest of the team has enough experience to handle the pressure and rise to the occasion during the upcoming tour in England.
“Pressure is always there in every tour. Definitely, two very experienced players who played for such a long time and won so many times, very difficult to fill their space. But it is not a different kind of pressure, all of us players are used to it,” Gill said in the press conference.
Last home season, both Rohit and Kohli had a tough time converting their starts into substantial scores, proving to be less reliable than usual. Even during the tour in Australia where Kohli began with a century his form quickly dipped leaving him with just 190 runs across 10 innings.
Rohit wrapped up his Test career with 4,301 runs from 67 matches, boasting 12 centuries and 18 fifties, averaging 40.57. His bold strategies at the top of the order, especially at home, played a key role in reshaping India’s approach post-2019. A standout moment in his red-ball career was his impressive 127 in the 2021 Oval Test.
Kohli, on the other hand, finished with an average of 46.85, amassing 9,230 runs in 123 matches. With a top score of 254 not out, he notched up 30 centuries and 31 fifties, and he holds the record for the most double hundreds by an Indian in Test cricket, with seven to his name.
As for the upcoming England series, the team management is still working on finalizing the playing XI. Yashasvi Jaiswal is likely to open the batting alongside KL Rahul, while Karun Nair and Shubman Gill are in the mix for the number three and four spots. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja are expected to take the fifth and sixth positions. If they decide to include an extra batter, Dhruv Jurel, who performed well in the unofficial Test against England Lions, could be a strong contender.
On the bowling front, either Nitish Kumar Reddy or Shardul Thakur might step in as a pace-bowling all-rounder while Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, and Arshdeep Singh are set to lead the pace attack.
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