It all started with Ravichandran Ashwin’s decision to abruptly retire from cricket on December 18, 2024. In the next 146 days that followed, the India cricket team has witnessed the departure of two more stalwarts – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Perhaps, the one disastourous Border-Gavaskar Trophy pushed three legends to retire within what could be record time.
One awful Australia tour that led Ash-Ro-Ko to retire
Ashwin was the first to make the call. He last played in the IND vs AUS 2nd Test in Adelaide following which he decided to retire from all forms of cricket. Rohit and Virat continued to play out the entire series but didn’t reap any rewards as such. But, at that point of time, no one would have thought that the duo would call it a time on their Test careers, especially just before the start of the next World Test Championship cycle.
Emotional moments from the Indian dressing room
#AUSvINDOnStar #BorderGavaskarTrophy #Ashwin #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/92a4NqNsyP
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 18, 2024
The next shock came from Rohit Sharma. First, the Hitman had claimed that he had no plans to retire in an interview during the IND vs AUS 5th Test. He reaffirmed his motive during a podcast with Michael Clarke midway through IPL 2025, saying that “he would give his best in England.” However, what followed was his abrupt decision to retire from Tests just before the upcoming tour.
If that wasn’t enough, a report surfaced last week that Kohli too intended to follow Rohit’s footsteps. Despite multiple reports claiming and contradicting each other over BCCI attempting to convince the former captain to reconsider his decision, Kohli officially confirmed on Monday that he indeed was done with Tests.
Whites off, crown intact
Virat Kohli bids goodbye to Test cricket, leaving behind an unmatched legacy
: https://t.co/VjuXwUrl8P pic.twitter.com/6apbXkubQ0
— ICC (@ICC) May 12, 2025
In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 series, Virat managed to score 190 runs from 9 innings, averaging just 23.75. Rohit scored just 31 runs in 5 innings. Ashwin on the other hand had taken just 1 wicket.
With Ro-Ko-Ash gone, India are left with just Jadeja and Bumrah as veterans in the side.
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