The Test retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were shocking, especially when they came right before the Indian squad was supposed to be declared for the England tour. When there were speculations going on about whether Ro-Ko was forced to retire by BCCI or not, the board's Vice President Rajeev Shukla, clarified that BCCI doesn't play such ugly games. In a recent interview with ANI on Tuesday, Shukla clarified that it is BCCI's policy not to force anyone to retire. He accepted that the absences of both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are vividly felt in England, but retiring was totally their personal decision. Shukla said, "I want to make it very clear once and for all. We are all feeling the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The decision to retire was made by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli on their own. It is the policy of BCCI that we never tell any player to retire. It was their call." Watch the video here: #WATCH | London, UK | BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla says, "...We are all feeling the absence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The decision to retire made by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli was their own. It is the policy of BCCI that we never tell any player to retire...We will… pic.twitter.com/4ShzHNG5W3 — ANI (@ANI) July 15, 2025 Read also: England Penalized, Slip to 3rd in WTC After Slow Over Rate Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli—all gone after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy The veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made a sudden call at the press conference right after having a rain-fed draw at the Gabba that he won't be playing any more international cricket. Well, there was no idea that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who was leading the team in Australia, would hang up their boots too. Rohit Sharma had dropped himself from the Sydney Test. He then came in between the match and gave a Rohit-like candid interview to Jatin Sapru that he has opted out owing to his off-form. And he vividly said that he is not going anywhere. Later in an interview with former Australian captain Michael Clarke, Ro expressed his urge to come to England. But on March 7, right on the day when the selectors assembled to have the selection meeting, Ro announced his Test retirement by posting just an Instagram story. Similar things happened with Kohli. However, he was, as reported, asked by BCCi to overturn his decision of retirement. But before that, there were several reports; even his childhood coach claimed that Kohli is looking forward to the England tour, but he retired! To be honest, the present Test captain, Shubman Gill, asking Zak Crawley to grow balls at the Lord's reminded of the vintage Kohli who had his famous "unleash hell" huddle talk in 2021 Lord's, the one who was summoned by the umpire for doing some unwanted gesture to the Melbourne crowd during the 2014-15 BGT tour! But unfortunately, the sledge remained, and hell couldn't be unleashed. When Joe Root and Crawley came to shake hands with shattered Mohammed Siraj, Sports won, but at the cost of India's defeat.