'Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma exits will inspire team rebuild'

MUMBAI: he simultaneous retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma is going to be a big challenge for the national selectors. Having overseen a similar phase during his tenure as India’s chief selector between 2012 to 2016, when Sachin Tendulkar called time on his epic career and stalwarts like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan were dropped, India’s 1983 World Cup hero Sandeep Patil feels Indian cricket will be able to find the ideal replacements.

“The two stalwarts, the two pillars of Indian cricket have gone. It is time to rebuild. It will be a big challenge for the national selectors, but I am sure we will find a solution. During our tenure in the selection committee, we dropped five-six (big) players, but the new players who took their places did very well. Ek jaata hai, toh doosra khada hai (If one player exits the scene, the next one is ready),” Patil told TOI .

It was in Patil’s tenure as India’s chief selector that Kohli became India’s Test captain, during India’s tour of Australia in 2014-15. “I had a wonderful time with both Virat and MS Dhoni as the Indian captains. Both were different characters, but both brilliant. There were no fights, no arguments with both, who had contrasting personalities – ek aag ka shola (Virat, firebrand), ek barf ka gola (Dhoni, captain cool),” he said.

“He had become a kind of a brand, so no one wanted him to retire. We should respect his decision,” Patil concluded.