Sourav Ganguly breaks silence on Virat Kohli's Retirement from Test Cricket
Published - 18 May 2025, 02:19 PM | Updated - 18 May 2025, 02:24 PM
Recently, Sourav Ganguly revealed that he was a bit surprised when Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the red-ball format on May 12.
The former Indian skipper wasn’t surprised by Rohit Sharma’s retirement that much compared to Kohli’s news.
Read also: "Nobody is above Sachin Tendulkar"- Ravichandran Ashwin on Virat Kohli
Sourav Ganguly’s thoughts on retirement
Sourav Ganguly stated that retirement in cricket depends on an Individual’s decision. Kohli had an incredible career in the red-ball format, and he left the game of his own will.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly shared his thoughts on the retirement, saying, "Playing or leaving is your own decision. Both Kohli and Rohit have left the game of their own free will and both of them have had incredible careers." Ganguly expressed.
Kohli and Rohit both had brilliant careers and now Rohit has also retired from Test. The big news will be who will take over the captaincy role in the Indian team, according to Ganguly.
Watch the video here:
VIDEO | On Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's retirement from Test, former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) says, "Retirement is a personal decision. It is his decision to retire. It has been a fantastic career and Virat Kohli has been a fantastic cricketer, and so has… pic.twitter.com/oZpzEKssfX
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 17, 2025
Sourav Ganguly's bond with Kohli and Rohit
When Kohli was captaining the Indian side, Ganguly was the BCCI president and was working on building the Indian team.
When Kohli was planning to leave India's T20I skipper role, Ganguly stated that there were attempts made to stop Kohli from taking that decision, but Kohli had made up his mind to step down as T20I captain.
After that, the rift between both of them started, and it went to the IPL also, but in the last edition of IPL, both shook hands with each other on the ground.
Virat Kohli surpassed Sourav Ganguly in captaincy records in Test Cricket
Before Virat Kohli, Ganguly was known as the biggest Test skipper in Indian history, but Kohli shattered all records of Ganguly as a Test skipper.
Kohli led India in 68 Test matches, while Ganguly led the Men in Blue for 49 matches. Ganguly has a 42.85% win record, while Kohli nearly touched the 60% mark as his test captaincy record was 58.82% in the red-ball format.
Kohli also surpassed Ganguly in the feat of most away Test wins by an Indian skipper. Ganguly had 11 away Test victories in 28 Test matches while Kohli achieved the same feat in 24 matches.
Ganguly was the first Indian skipper who gave the belief in fans and team that India can win Test matches at any venue. In his tenure, India started to win the Test matches against the SENA countries.
