Kuldeep Yadav reveals his reaction to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s Test retirements, says he was shocked

India’s wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav revealed he was shocked after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from Test cricket. While Rohit announced his Test retirement on May 7, Kohli called it a day on May 12, sending shocking waves in the cricketing world.

Kohli amassed 9230 runs in 123 Test matches at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries. In the last 69 Test innings since 2020, Kohli has managed only 2028 runs at an average of 30.72, including just three centuries.

Rohit played 67 Tests during an 11-year career, leading in 24 of them since taking over the reins of the team from Virat Kohli in 2022. He ends his career with a total of 4301 runs, including 12 centuries.

Kuldeep said he had an intuition that Ravichandran Ashwin would retire but didn’t expect Rohit and Virat to retire.

“I had an inkling that Ash bhai might retire due to his body. We used to have a lot of chats and once I remember, he put his hand on me and said, ‘You will have to take responsibility in the future. You have to manage’. I used to feel a bit concerned that he doesn’t leave and go,” Kuldeep told Indian Express in an interview.

“I was shocked when Rohit bhai and Virat bhai retired. You want your senior players to stay for big series such as this. I have spent a lot of time with Ash bhai, discussing bowling and even field settings; we used to sit and talk. His exit is shocking to me as I was learning a lot from him. He would keep feeding me ideas.I played and learned a lot with Ashwin.”

The Uttar Pradesh spinner revealed he shared a great bonhomie with Rohit Sharma.

“I had a great understanding and bond with Rohit bhai. He used to look after me like an elder brother, even off the field. When bowling, he used to tell me clearly what he expected from me and whether I was delivering it or not.”

Kuldeep is part of India’s 18-man Test squad for the England tour.