New Delhi: For the first time since 2011, the Indian Test team going to England will not have Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. Both the senior batsmen retired from Test cricket last month. The BCCI selectors have selected a new team by making Shubman Gill the captain. Kohli and Rohit were missed when the team reached London. When the team reached London on Saturday, there were no fans or media personnel at the airport.
Fans did not come to receive the Indian fan
When Kohli went on a tour of Australia with the Indian team in November last year, there was a huge crowd of fans and media in Adelaide. It was believed that 36-year-old Kohli was playing his last Test series in Australia. He was in the headlines even before the series started. There was so much talk that the Indian team management had to hold a practice session in a closed room. Fans had to climb trees to get a glimpse of them.
But nothing like this was seen when the team, led by Shubman Gill, reached London for the five-match Test series starting June 20. A video went viral on social media. Some fans felt that the charm of Test cricket was over after the retirement of Kohli and Rohit. Some feared that it was the 'fall of Indian Test cricket'. However, some were optimistic. They said that the atmosphere would be created again when runs came out of Gill's bat.
Kohli-Rohit took retirement
In a press conference before leaving for London in Mumbai, Gill was first asked about the absence of Kohli and Rohit and the pressure it puts on the young team. But the captain bravely dismissed it. He said that it is like any difficult situation he has faced before. He said in a pre-tour press conference on Wednesday, 'There is pressure in every tour. Of course, it is very difficult to fill the place of two very experienced players who have played for so long and won so many times. But this is not a different kind of pressure, all of us players are used to it.
