Kapil Dev Backs Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli Amid Retirement Calls

Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev has backed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to continue playing as long as they want after an underwhelming Test series against Australia. India lost the Test series to Australia 3-1 and missed out on reaching the WTC final as well.

Since the series ended, the two senior players have been under pressure to retire from Test cricket. From fans to former cricketers several of them want the Indian superstars to take voluntary retirement. Lack of runs and poor form with the bat are being seen as the reasons behind asking the senior cricketers to bow out from international cricket.

Kapil Dev Throws His Support Behind Kohli, Rohit

Meanwhile, both Rohit and Virat have got support from former Indian skipper Kapil Dev regarding taking their retirement call. At a recent event, Kapil said that the decision to retire should be left to them given the kind of players they have been for India over a long period of time.

"They are very big players. Let's hope when they think it's the right time to play, when they think it's not, they will call it off," said Kapil during an event hosted by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), in response to a question whether they should be there for the Test series in England later this year.

India plays their next Test series against England in June later this year. The series begins India's next WTC cycle. With the team management looking to include a few youngsters, the selectors are awaiting for Rohit and Kohli to take a call on their future.

Meanwhile, if recent reports are to be believed, the management is looking to make Jasprit Bumrah the new Test captain with Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal in contention for the vice-captaincy role.

The former Indian captain has also asked not to make comparisons between him and Jasprit Bumrah. There are talks of Bumrah's workload after he bowled over 150 overs in the Test series against Australia. He has been now rested from the white-ball series against England. He is also expected to miss the Champions Trophy 2025. Bumrah finished with 32 wickets in BGT 2024-25.