'I'd have convinced him to captain and bring back glory' - Kris Srikkanth opens up on Virat Kohli's retirement call

The former Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth opened up that he would have convinced the legendary batter Virat Kohli to captain the Indian team and bring back the glory had he not retired from Tests. The ace batter, though, surprised Srikkanth and everyone with his retirement through social media on Monday, May 12.

Virat's outstanding talent and potential as a youngster had enticed Srikkanth to make him a part of India's Test side when they toured Australia in 2011-12. Srikkanth, who was the chairman of the selection committee back then, saw his decision come to fruition as Kohli scored his first hundred Down Under in 2012 and marked a strong statement on his arrival in whites.

“He was a special talent. I think Virat was outstanding because all of us liked his sincerity, integrity, and everything. Also he was a very hard-working boy at that time. And we all realised he has terrific potential and that’s why we picked him ahead of everybody else for the Australian series,” said Srikkanth via Revsportz.

“Obviously, when you pick a youngster as a selector, you always pick a youngster thinking that he will be a great success in the future. But nobody thought this far. And the rest is history,” the Chennai-born cricketer added.

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The 65-year-old insisted that the selectors should have convinced the top-order batter, while also revealing that he would have communicated with the star player to bring back the accolade to India’s Test cricket setup and then retire from the format.

“If I was the chairman now, I would say, ‘Boss, you captain the team, bring back glory to Indian Test cricket, and then leave Test cricket’. The selectors should have convinced him. Had I been there, I would have spoken to him and asked him to captain India in England. Bring back the glory days to India’s Test cricket and retire. That would have made it the perfect end”, he concluded.