While the cricketing world continues to recover from Virat Kohli's unexpected retirement from Test cricket, Rohit Sharma's decision to take the same call is also baffling to most.

Rohit, 38, was all set to captain India in England for the five-Test series, as revealed during his chat with Michael Clarke on the former Australia captain's podcast. Rohit wished to have his best players fit and ready, and laid out his own expectations, which were more than enough to clarify that India were heading to the UK with the same captain.

However, something happened on the evening of May 7, when, reportedly, the chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar, spoke to Rohit.

What happened during the meeting is confidential information, but the fact that Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket shortly after via Instagram story makes it sound fishy. Was a message conveyed? Was Rohit told he doesn't fit into the Indian team? These are questions we don't know. What we do know, however, is that May 7 triggered a shift after which the two batting stalwarts of Indian cricket, Rohit and Kohli, walked away from Tests without even getting a farewell match.

But it's not as if the writing wasn't on the wall.

Rohit looked a pale shadow of himself, enduring a disastrous run in the series against New Zealand and Australia. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit managed just 31 runs. Having scored 4301 runs from 67 matches, former South Africa batter Daryll Cullinan reckons Rohit's retirement from Tests was long overdue, and that it won't be too big of a loss for India in the series against England.

"Rohit's retirement was probably long overdue in terms of test cricket away from India. Let's be honest about it. He hasn't really been the player that he throughout his career has been at home and we saw reluctance from him in recent Australian series to really take it on and lead from the front.

So I don't see that as being a loss for India at all," said Cullinan.

India have a realistic chance of beating England: Daryll Cullinan

Cullinan, who, with 4554 runs from 70 Tests, is just a shade ahead of Rohit's Test stats, says India have a realistic chance of beating England on their home turf as they have a solid pace battery. The squad has yet to be picked, but the belief is that India would land in England with a pace-heavy contingent, starring Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep.

Mohammed Shami's availability could be subject to fitness.

India have not won a Test series in England since 2007 - the closest they came was in 2021/22, when the series ended in a 2-2 draw - and Cullinan believes the time has come for the youngsters to step up and make a name for themselves.

"India definitely have a realistic chance if all their bowlers are fit and they're able to see through the series. They're always going to be in with a chance. Ability to bowl teams out and there's depth in India's batting," said Cullinan.

"But it's a great opportunity for young emerging players to really understand the authority on the game or what to be reckoned with now as future test stars. It's going to be a very interesting series for India, and it will highlight their game conditions, which a few won't be familiar with either with bat or ball."