Virat Kohli's Test Retirement Decision A 'Braifade'. Told To "Close His Eyes And..."

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has urged Virat Kohli to reconsider his decision to retire from Test cricket. Kohli announced his Test retirement earlier this month, ending days of speculation over his uncertain future. Kohli's announcement came days after it was reported that he had communicated his decision to retire from Tests to the BCCI. A former teammate of Kohli, Tiwary felt the former India captain has plenty of cricket left in him. Speaking on Cricbuzz, Tiwary added he would be happy, just like any other fan of Indian cricket, if Kohli makes a retirement u-turn.

"I felt a bit sad. In an era where T20 cricket is racing ahead, Kohli has kept Test cricket alive. He could have easily not given it the required importance. But he kept Test cricket as a priority always. We saw that in his captaincy, too. I'll ask him to close his eyes and take the retirement back as soon as possible. It'll bring back the happiness on the faces of all cricket fans. Even I did that. I took back retirement from first-class cricket after just five days and then played for Bengal, trying to win the Ranji Trophy," said Tiwary.

Tiwary also suggested that Kohli had a 'brain fade' moment and hastily made the decision to retire.

"Sometimes you face a time when a brain fade can happen and you make a decision. It's possible he had that too. There's a lot of cricket left in him. He was too close to 10,000 runs. Although it might not be important to him, a lot of young cricketers dream of making their name in Test cricket and reaching that milestone. He had a good chance. I don't know what happened or what went wrong that he made this decision," he added.

During the same discussion, former India batter Virender Sehwag explained what makes Kohli such a special batter.

"His hunger for runs is what makes him different, sets him apart," Sehwag said. "He follows his routine, his hard work, whether or not he's making runs. A lot of cricketers stop working hard when their runs are not coming but not him. And then his fitness. Even today, he will leave 90% of players behind in fitness at 36 years old. I would say because of that, he retired too early in Tests; he could comfortably have played 2 more years," Sehwag explained.