Why BCCI pressurised Rohit Sharma to retire from Tests? Virat Kohli factor revealed

Former English all-rounder Moeen Ali praised Rohit Sharma for his contribution in the red-ball format. Moeen also called Rohit the most talented player in the world.

Rohit recently announced his retirement from Test cricket and ended his Test career with 4301 runs in 67 games. Rohit scored 12 tons and 18 half-centuries in his career.

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Moeen Ali on Rohit Sharma’s Test career

Moeen Ali stated that Rohit’s batting was amazing to watch, and god has given him a gift in his batting style.

Moeen stated that there was also a time in World cricket when Rohit was one of the most talented players. The former Englishman asserted that Rohit played very smoothly during his peak in international cricket.

“Rohit was a more natural player in terms of, like, amazing to watch. Like a proper gift given to him. When I say natural, everything looks a lot smoother. He was a top player. There was a period of time where he was probably the most talented player in the world, naturally," Moeen said on the Beard Before Wicket podcast.

"Like probably didn’t do the work in terms of fitness and stuff as Virat but still as effective. Would probably hit the ball further," he added.

Moeen Ali thinks Rohit and Kohli's absence will give a boost to England

The two most experienced players in the Indian team, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, will miss the England tour in June. Both the Indian veterans have decided to retire from Test cricket.

This will give a massive boost to the English team, according to Moeen Ali. Kohli and Rohit are among the players who’ve toured England the most number of times as far as the current Indian squad is concerned.

Kohli played 33 innings in England, which is the most by any player in the current squad. He scored 2092 runs at an average of 32.8. He has two tons and five half-centuries in English conditions.

Rohit played 14 innings in England and scored 1190 runs with an average of 40.3 in Test matches. He also scored a century and two half-centuries in English conditions.

Rohit Sharma says goodbye to two formats within a year

Rohit Sharma led the Indian team to win an ICC trophy after 11 long years when India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and then the Men in Blue went on to win the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. After this, no one thought that within a year, Rohit would retire from two formats of the game.

He announced his retirement from the T20I format immediately after winning the T20 World Cup in June 2024, and now, in May 2025, he took an exit from the longest format as well.

Now Rohit will only represent India in the ODI format. He wants to lead India in the ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa. In a recent interview with Vimal Kumar, Rohit Sharma claimed that it would be nice if he would get a chance to lead India again in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 which is slated to be held in South Africa.