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Kevin Pietersen defended Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, saying they don’t deserve retirement talks despite poor form, emphasizing their human nature and joy brought to fans.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (R). (PC: AFP)
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen passionately defended the out-of-form duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, saying that they don’t ‘deserve’ the question of retirement yet. He said a poor tour of Australia in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy doesn’t make them ‘bad cricketers’ or ‘bad people’, adding that people questioning them should look beyond ‘statistics’ and see how Kohli and Rohit have ‘made them feel’.
Kohli and Rohit have had an indifferent last six months in international cricket since the 2024 T20 World Cup. Kohli scored just one century across the three-Test series against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, and was mostly exposed for his outside-off weakness. Rohit had it even tougher, managing only one half-century in the same period and got out in a variety of ways, mostly being signs of his slowing reflexes.
“(It’s) unfair. How can you tell somebody who’s scored as many runs as these guys, they must retire? Yes, it’s a discussion and it’s a topic I get it, I understand it, but they deserve more respect than that,” Pietersen said during a promotional event on Tuesday, as quoted by PTI.
“Having had exactly the same challenges in my career, it happens. Rohit and Virat are not robots. They don’t walk out there and get a hundred every time they bat. Maybe they had one bad Australian tour. Does that make them bad people? No. Does it make them bad cricketers? Absolutely not,” he said.
He added that some decisions in sports shouldn’t be all about ‘winning and losing’.
“You guys need to understand, these guys are human beings. You give them bamboo now, but at the end of their careers, you look back and how did they make you feel when they played? They made people feel happy. It’s not all about statistics. It’s not all about winning and not about losing, and you finish your career like I did, people talk to me about how I made them feel when I played.”
Kohli and Rohit will next be seen in action against England in the upcoming three-ODI series at home which begins on Thursday, (February 6).