This is a question that now carries the weight of immunity. For the first time in three years, and for the first time that feels like the entire generation, he will step on the Test field without either Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma.In just one week interval, India’s red ball batting columns have moved away from the longest format. On 7 May, Rohit Sharma quietly announced his retirement from Test cricket. And now, Virat Kohli, in an emotional Instagram post, followed the suit:“It’s 14 years when I first wore Bagi Blue …” he wrote, indicating the end of a remarkable test journey in 2011 and shaped the heartbeat of Indian cricket for more than a decade.Together, Kohli and Rohit defined an era. For nearly 10 years, both have been the backbone of India’s test batting, from Adelaide to Lord’s, taking a fight in every corner of the cricket world from Chepuk to Cape Town. Their presence became so stable, so expected that imagining a test XI without them seems unfamiliar, almost real.But soon, fans will have to face that reality. India’s tour of England in July 2025 will mark a new chapter, which will begin without a familiar vision of number 18 and number 45, which moves out to bat in the whites.Quiz: Who is that IPL player?The last time India played a test without both Kohli and Rohit, which returned during the second match of the series against South Africa in Johannesburg in January 2022. The then captain, Kohli, missed the game due to upper back cramps. Rohit was absent for the entire series, recovering from a hamstring injury. KL Rahul led the team on that occasion, but India decreased, lost the test by seven wickets-and later, series 2–1. The series also marked the end of Kohli’s tenure as the test captain of India.
Between them, Kohli and Rohit played 13,531 runs, 44 centuries and 190 Tests with countless memories. Their joint absence leaves not only in numbers, but in appearance, in the aura, a cavernous zero in leadership.As India prepares for the next generation, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, or other dressing rooms, and the grounds, will undoubtedly feel empty to take this mantle. The bat will not rotate the same. There will be no fire in walking at the crease. Whites will not flicker with the same acquaintance.This is the end of an era and the beginning of a new.
