'Beginning of the Gautam Gambhir era,' says Ravi Ashwin after Rohit-Kohli's Test retirement
While Rohit announced his retirement on May 7, Kohli decided to hang up his boots in white on Monday (May 12). Both the players played last on Test tour of Australia which India lost 1-3.
Former India spinner Ravi Ashwin says that the upcoming Test tour of England will truly mark the beginning of Gautam Gambhir era as India head coach. The comments come after retirement announcements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket in a span of six days.
"I didn't have an idea both [Rohit and Kohli] would retire together," Ashwin said on his Youtube show 'Ash Ki Baat'. "This will a testing time for Indian cricket, and I'll say this is truly now the beginning of the Gautam Gambhir era.
"The team that will tour England will be a completely new team, a transformed team where Bumrah will probably be the senior-most player. He is obviously one of the captaincy options; I think he deserves the captaincy, but the selectors will take a decision based on his physical capacity.
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"Their retirements will definitely create a leadership vacuum. You can't buy experience, especially on tours like this. Virat's energy and Rohit's composure will be missed," he added.
While Rohit announced his retirement on May 7, Kohli decided to hang up his boots in white on Monday (May 12). Both the players played last on Test tour of Australia which India lost 1-3.
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Rohit scored 4,301 runs in 67 matches at an average of 40.57 with 12 hundreds and 18 fifties. Rohit led India in 24 Tests and won 12 of them and nine 9 losses to go with three draws.
Kohli retired with 9,239 runs at an average of 46 with 30 tons and 31 fifties to his name in 123 Tests. Out of those runs, he scored 7,564 runs at number four in 99 Tests at an average of 50 with 26 tons.
Virat's runs at number 4 are second most by an Indian behind Sachin's 13,492 and fifth highest overall behind Sachin, Mahela Jayawardene (9,509), Jacques Kallis (9,033) and Joe Root (7,745).
He led India in 68 Tests and won 40 of them - the most of India and fourth highest overall behind Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48) and Steve Waugh 941).