De Villiers Ends Kohli Test Retirement Debate, Explains Why India Star Quit

Since Virat Kohli announced his decision to quit Test cricket, a lot has been speculated over the potential reasons behind his big decision. While some suggest that Kohli wasn't keen on becoming a player who could potentially be dropped from the Test team, others feel he simply didn't find challenges motivating enough for him to push further. Kohli's friend and former Indian Premier League teammate, AB de Villiers, however, has now put the debate to bed with a logical explanation.

For De Villiers, who spent a long time with Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as his teammate, it was purely a 'gut call'.

"He followed his gut feel. I think he has done a lot for cricket around the world over the years. Luckily, we'll still see him on the cricket field. He will be missed in Test matches, there is no doubt about it, but he leaves (behind) a great legacy with the red ball," De Villiers said on the sidelines of a NGO Project Mumbai on Saturday.

With Kohli and India's Test skipper Rohit Sharma bowing out, a lot of new-age batters are expected to fill in the void left by them. De Villiers is excited to see the young generation taking up the challenge.

"Yes, it's time for the younger guys to step up... Shubman Gill taking on the responsibility. There's lots of talent in India, and largely credit to the IPL for that, (it is) really giving great exposure to some of the youngsters at a very early age. We saw Vaibhav Suryavanshi this year (and) many other youngsters, they come in their first year and they look very mature and ready to play cricket, and it's a great platform for Indian cricket," De Villiers said.

"They've got to take some responsibility on in England, it'll be a tough test, but they have all the talent in the world and if they believe, maybe they can achieve something special," the ex-South Africa skipper further said.

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