Agarkar: 'Virat reached out early April and said he wants to finish'

A combined 190 matches together, over 13,500 runs, 42 hundreds in the format, and a collective captaincy experience of 92 Tests. The recent Test retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are "big holes to fill" but when players make decisions to leave the game, even if before a high-profile five-Test tour of England, you have to "respect" them and move on, according to chair of India men's selection panel, Ajit Agarkar.

While announcing India's 18-member squad that will be led by new captain Shubman Gill, Agarkar revealed that it was Kohli who had reached out to the selectors in the early stages of IPL 2025 to inform them about leaving Test cricket.

"Virat reached out early April and said he wants to finish," Agarkar said. "We've seen him give 200% to every ball that he plays, even when he is not batting or he's in the field. He probably felt that he had given everything that he had and if he can't keep up to the standards that he set for himself over the years, and how good he has been, and maybe it was time for him. It has come from him. You've got to respect that. They have earned that respect, both of them. As all great players are, the one thing there is, they are true to themselves, and he was in that conversation. So you've got to respect that. We'll obviously miss [Kohli], when you've got a guy who's played 123 Test matches, 30 Test hundreds, it's going to be tough to fill."

Agarkar did not explain how the conversation around Rohit's retirement, which was announced five days before Kohli's, had panned out but said that the Test side would undergo a "big transition" as they were also without R Ashwin, who had retired in the middle of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia in December. The five Tests starting June 20 in England will see India field a fairly inexperienced batting line-up, as Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are the only batters in the squad who have played Tests in England before. Agarkar, however, stressed that since the retirement decisions had been taken, it was important to look ahead, groom younger players and build a side for the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle as it will be "someone else's chance now."

"When guys like that retire it's always going to be big holes to fill," Agarkar said. "Ashwin retired a few months back as well, so those three guys are stalwarts of our cricket. It's always difficult. One way of looking at it is an opportunity for someone else. They've left a legacy behind.

"Needless to say, Rohit has been a leader over the last couple of years since he started leading in the Test matches. It is a new cycle, so it is an opportunity to build something for us as well. That's why I think we've got to show them the respect that they want instead of speculating too many things. It is sometimes a personal call with players and you've got to respect that and their performances over the years have shown in the amount of games that they've won for India. It is someone else's chance now but there's no doubt we'll miss them. I mean all three of them and [Mohammed] Shami. In Test cricket he's been incredible. So four guys like that not being part of the squad is going to make it a little bit tougher but it's an opportunity for other guys."

The 2025 WTC final starting June 11 at Lord's between Australia and South Africa will be the first such final without India after they were blanked 3-0 at home by New Zealand and then lost 3-1 to Australia at the turn of the year. The tour of England will be India's first series in the new WTC cycle (2025-27) in which India will host West Indies for two Tests (October) and South Africa for another two (November) this year. With the inclusion of 23-year-old uncapped batter B Sai Sudharsan and the recall of Karun Nair - both on the back of strong domestic performances - for England, India now have the chance to build for the future, although Agarkar said deciding the new No. 4 would be left to the head coach and the captain.

"It's a new WTC cycle so you are looking at all sorts of scenarios for the next two years - what is going to help build a team, leading up to that WTC final," Agarkar said. "It's an opportunity for somebody else and that's our job eventually to pick someone else when someone finishes. These two guys were big players for us in Test cricket and those are going to be big holes to fill."