Virat Kohli was one of the three retained players by Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. He became the costliest Indian player to be retained at Rs 21 crore. On the international front, Kohli has not been going through a smooth phase. Virat Kohli’s scores in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand read 0, 70, 1, 17, 4, 1. And the reflection of that performance is clear on his ICC Test ranking. Courtesy his scores of 4 and 1 in the Mumbai Test that India lost, Kohli has dropped down eight places to 22nd. This is the India star’s lowest in over 10 years. In August 2014, he was ranked 24th after a lean tour of England.
In the midst of this, a social media post where Virat Kohli talked about entering a ‘new chapter’ with a ‘new team’ sent social media in to frenzy. However, the post was regarding a team ‘Sporting beyond’ which will work with the former India captain on his business interests.
Ngl, it was scary for a moment!
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 7, 2024
Virat gave a shock to the whole nation for a moment
— Adithya Thatipalli (@adi_thatipalli) November 7, 2024
Aise kaun new chapter announce karta hai
Can I work in the marketing team ?
— Jerry Jose (@jrryjs) November 7, 2024
The lack of domestic cricket taunts continue haunt Indian cricket team’s seniors, with experts refusing to turn down the intensity of their criticism after 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand. Many still feel that the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli would’ve benefitted had they decided to feature in the Duleep Trophy. Some even suggest that the duo should play the ongoing Ranji Trophy. Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif also holds a similar stance, suggesting the top stars should let go of their big cars, flights and VIP treatment and go back to domestic cricket.
“Absolutely. They need form, and they need to bat hours there. If they end up scoring a hundred, then it will benefit them immensely and serve as a morale booster,” Kaif said in a video shared on social media.
Kaif also shared a Rishabh Pant reminder from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020 series where the wicket-keeper batter came into the team on the back of a century in a practice match and helped India make history Down Under.
“Let me remind you of Rishabh Pant here. He ended up scoring the winning run in Gabba, but he was neither part of the ODI nor the T20I squad in that tour. He only went for the Test series, where Wriddhiman Saha played ahead of him. But India incurred that ’36 all out’ and we lost the match, Pant was included. But remember, Pant had played a practice match in that tour, in a Pink Ball match supposedly, and scored a century, after which he was included in the XI so he emerged as a whole different player then,” he said.
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