Virender Sehwag's Massive Statement On Fan Interest After Virat Kohli's Test Retirement: "More People Are Watching"
Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has dismissed claims that fan interest in cricket have dropped due to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's Test retirements.
- Virender Sehwag denied that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's Test retirement has led to decline in fan interest
- "Same thing used to be said for Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar," Sehwag pointed out
- "More people are watching now. Earlier it used to come on TV, but now it is available on mobiles," he added
Indian cricket has seen some stalwarts retire from Tests in recent years, with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin all quitting the format. Three pillars of India's red-ball success over the last decade, their departure has left big shoes to fill in the team. Concerns have also been raised over possible decline in fan-interest due to the retirement of the trio. However, legendary India opener dismissed any worry regarding fan interest going down, implying that the sport's popularity does not rely on a few stars.
"Log kehte zaroor hain, unke fans kehte hain ki hum Virat Kohli ke liye cricket dekhte hain ya Rohit Sharma ke liye dekhte hain. Par aisa toh Sunil Gavaskar ke liye bhi kaha jata tha, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar ke liye bhi kaha jata tha (People do say that they watch cricket just for Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. But the same thing used to be said for Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar)," Sehwag said, in an interaction with News18.
"Yet, people are still watching as much cricket as they used to before. In fact, more people are watching now because earlier it used to come on TV, but now it is available on mobile phones. It has become even easier," he added.
Sehwag revealed that many fans had approached him and said that they don't watch cricket since his retirement, but he'd refused to believe such claims.
"So, to say that if this player retires, we won't watch cricket anymore, maybe some of their fans won't. I have also heard people say, 'You stopped playing, so we stopped watching,' but that's not really the case. They probably still watch a little bit.
"Agar cricketers se hi game chal rahi hoti, toh ab tak band ho jati (If only cricketers were the ones driving the game, it would've stopped by now)," Sehwag stated.
It has been nearly a year and a half since Kohli and Rohit called it quits from Test cricket. Since then, the captaincy has been taken over by Shubman Gill.
Virat Kohli
Virender Sehwag
Rohit Sharma
India Cricket Team