‘If he was asked by captain, selectors….’ Former Aussie skipper believes Virat Kohli can come out of Test retirement | Cricket News

While Shubman Gill was appointed as the Test captain last month, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had announced their Test retirements weeks prior to the team announcement. Kohli finished his career with 9,230 runs in 123 Test matches, Sharma played in 67 Tests amassing 4,301 runs. Kohli had scored 657 runs in this year’s IPL winning the title with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and was the third highest scorer in IPL this year. Clarke sees Kohli in fine form but also reiterated that the Shubman Gill led Indian Test team can beat England in the five match Test series. “He (Virat) sees it as the pinnacle and he’s still playing good enough cricket. He definitely made the decision to retire and whatever his reasons are, everybody comes to that time in their career. If that’s the case, then so be it. But if they don’t perform, if they get beaten, like I say, 5-0 in England, which I don’t think they will. I think they can still win in England, even without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. I think this Indian squad is a good squad.” added Clarke.

Post winning the IPL, Kohli had shared how he sees winning the IPL title being five levels under Test cricket. “This moment (the IPL win) is right up there with the best moments I’ve had in my career, but it’s still marks five levels under Test cricket. That’s how much I value Test cricket. That’s how much I love Test cricket. I would just urge youngsters coming through to treat that format with respect. If you perform in Test cricket, you walk around anywhere in the world, people look you in the eye, shake your hand and say ‘Well done, you played the game really well. If you want to earn respect in world cricket all over, take up Test cricket, give your heart and soul to it and earn the respect from legends,” Kohli had told Star Sports post the win.