Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket last month, sending shockwaves through the world of cricket. The veteran batter’s retirement came shortly after his skipper Rohit Sharma had made a similar decision, and just ahead of the BCCI’s squad announcement for the five-match England series.
However, former England cricketer Monty Panesar has said that England were expecting Kohli to play in the Test series, but that the Indian management may have advised the veteran batsman that his recurring problem outside the off stump could result in him not playing all the matches in England.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Panesar said, “I think he was definitely going to play. I think England were expecting, everyone was expecting him to play. I’m surprised he’s kind of like bailed out. But maybe the fact that outside off-stump, he’s just thinking, well, you know, they may have had a word with him. They said, look, if you don’t score well in the first couple of Test matches, don’t expect to play all the five. So, he’s probably thinking, well, I’ll just call it a day and give the youngsters a go,”
Notably, Kohli has struggled with deliveries outside the off stump, often fishing for balls in the fourth or fifth stump region and nicking them to the keeper. While it looked as though Kohli had overcome this weakness at one point, it has resurfaced recently, particularly during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year.
Who takes the number 4 spot for India?
Panesar also answered the question of who should be the new number four for India now that Kohli has retired from Test cricket. Notably, Kohli had been coming out to bat at the number 4 position for a long time now and before that the spot was held by his idol Sachin Tendulkar.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s either Karun Nair or Shubman Gill. It’ll be either three or four. Karun Nair has played at Northampton. He’s done very well. He’s done well, obviously, on the Lions trip. You can see the players that they’ve picked have actually played county cricket. If he goes four or three, it doesn’t matter. It’s up to Shubman Gill. But that’s a strong batting line-up.” Panesar told HT.
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