Manoj Tiwary says that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had no plans of retiring in the Test cricket, but they had no option but to do so because of the poor environment in the team. The two Indian national cricketing legends declared that they were retiring out of the longest form of the game during the 2025 Indian Premier league.
As Rohit retired on May 7, Kohli did the same on May 12 and gave India a massive gap in the Indian Test squad ahead of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Shubman Gill was given the Test captaincy of the England tour and Rohit was replaced by Shubman Gill who moved to No. 4 in the batting order a position held by Kohli since the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar.
They were able to draw the series in England 2-2 and subsequently they destroyed the West Indies, but their failure in the first Test in South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata attracted cruel criticism on part of the fans and commentators. The head coach of the team, Gautam Gambhir attributed the defeat to the transition phase. Nonetheless, when asked about the change, Tiwary explained that change can never limit such a team as India, which is full of talented players fighting to occupy a spot on the team.
He also stated that Rohit and Kohli were dropped from the team due to an unnecessary transition, despite their willingness to play red-ball cricket.
“This whole ‘transition phase’ talk—I don’t agree with it. India doesn’t need a transition. New Zealand or Zimbabwe need transition. Our domestic cricket is full of talented performers waiting for chances. Because of this unnecessary transition, our star players—like Virat and Rohit—who wanted to keep playing Test cricket and protect its sanctity, slowly stepped back because of the atmosphere created around them,” Tiwary told India Today.
“You cannot blame players’ technique after losing. As a coach, your job is to teach, not to blame. If the batters didn’t have solid defence, why weren’t they trained before the match? When he played, Gambhir himself was a good player of spin, so he should teach more. The results aren’t in India’s favour.”
Manoj Tiwary
