The legendary Geoffrey Boycott said that India will be hurt due to the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the upcoming Test series against England, adding that the former will be a bigger miss than the latter. Both Kohli and Rohit retired from the longest format last month with Shubman Gill getting promoted as captain.
“The retirement of and hurts the chances of India beating England. Kohli is the biggest loss as he has been their best batsman and talisman in all three formats. With so much international cricket played by India, and so little rest, it takes its toll and the mind becomes fatigued,” Boycott wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.
“It does not matter how much talent or experience you have, if you are not mentally fresh and up for the challenge then it becomes draining. Rohit was a superb batsman. At his best, a beautiful stroke player, but he won’t be missed as much as Kohli because his Test record was good rather than exceptional. In the last couple of years his batting was a little inconsistent, which was not surprising in his late 30s. Rohit was never a natural athlete like Kohli and he knows that opening the innings in England can be pretty tough because the new ball moves around more. You really have to be up for the challenge to have any chance of success. I just think that over time the wear and tear of opening the innings and being captain in all three formats wore him down,” Boycott added.
England skipper and all-rounder Ben Stokes also heaped praises on Kohli, saying India will miss his “fighting spirit”.
In a video released by England Cricket, Stokes said on what India will miss after the retirement of Kohli, “I think what India will miss will be his fighting spirit out in the game, his competitiveness, desire to win. He has made number 18 his, hasn’t he? It’ll be a bit weird not seeing number 18 on the back of anyone… of any Indian shirt, but he has been class for them for a long period of time.”
