Concerns have also been raised over possible decline in fan-interest due to the retirement of the trio. 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. 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.
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.
But the same thing used to be said for Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar),” Sehwag said, in an interaction with News18. ” 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. ” 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. 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.
