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Former India batter Dilip Vengsarkar said that he would have requested Virat Kohli to retire from Test cricket after the England tour.
“If I were the Indian chief selector, I would have persuaded Virat to bid goodbye to Test cricket after playing the England series. We needed his class and experience in this series,” Vengsarkar told The Times of India.
Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket during the IPL, shortly after Rohit Sharma bid farewell to the longest format of the game. Shubman Gill was appointed as the new captain. At the time, many cricket experts believed that the absence of three senior players—Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit, and Kohli—on the crucial England tour could pose problems for India, as very few players in the squad had prior experience of playing in English conditions.
Kohli was heavily criticised for his performance in England in 2014, when the former India captain scored only 134 runs in the series at an average of 13.50 across five Test matches. However, he returned stronger in the 2018 series, amassing 593 runs at an average of 59.30 in five Tests.
Overall, in England, Kohli played 17 red-ball matches, scoring 1,096 runs at an average of 33.21, including two centuries and five fifties, with a highest score of 149.
India will tour Australia in October to play three ODIs and five T20Is. Fans are eagerly awaiting Kohli’s return to action, as he last played a competitive match in the IPL final, which his team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), won.
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