Virat Kohli announced his retirement on Monday, leaving the cricket fraternity in shock. In the backdrop of his retirement, India's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, while briefing the media about India's Operation Sindoor - a measured attack on nine Pakistani cities containing terror infrastructure and the subsequent military tussle with Pakistan - said Kohli was his favourite cricketer.

"I saw that Kohli has taken retirement from Test cricket, today is not the day to talk about cricket. Like every Indian, he is always my favourite," the DGMO said while briefing the media after India and Pakistan reached an 'understanding', leading to ceasefire along the India-Pakistan border.

In a heartbreaking moment for the millions of Indians and cricket fans across the globe, Kohli announced retirement from Test cricket earlier today. Kohli was 770 runs away from becoming only the eighth batter in history to score 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs. Since his debut in Test cricket in 2011, Kohli has played 123 Tests, scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85.

“It has been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket. Honestly, I never imagined the journey this format would take me on. It has tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I will carry for life. There is something deeply personal about playing in whites. The quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever,” Kohli wrote in his Instagram post.

“As I step away from this format, it’s not easy but it feels right. I have given it everything I had, and it has given me back so much more than I could have hoped for,” he added.

Among all nations away from home, Australia remained Virat Kohli’s favourite hunting ground. Kohli scored 1,542 runs Down Under in 18 Tests at an average of 46.72, with seven hundreds and four fifties. No other overseas nation saw him breach the century mark more than twice. Kohli also led India to a historic Test series Down Under in 2018-19.

Ghai went on to express his passion for cricket while relating the doctrine of war to cricketing strategies. "In the 1970s, during the Ashes between Australia and England, two Australian bowlers destroyed the batting lineup of England, and then Australia gave a proverb - 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Thommo don't get ya, Lillee must.'"

"If you see the layers, you will understand what I am trying to say. Even if you crossed all the layers, one of the layers of this grid system will hit you," Ghai added in a veiled reference to the Indian Armed Forces' capability to leave their enemies in tatters.

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