Referring to Virat Kohli's retirement from Test cricket on Monday, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, the Indian Army's director general, military operations, drew a parallel between cricket and military operations, saying: 'I was watching Virat Kohli taking retirement from Test cricket. Like many Indians, he is my favourite cricketer.
'Back in the '70s, during the famous Ashes series between Australia and England, two of Australia's legendary fast bowlers -- Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee -- wreaked havoc on the English batting line-up.
'Their dominance was so overwhelming that the Australians came up with a saying: "From ashes to ashes and from dust to dust, if Thommo don't get you, then Lillee surely must".
'If you look closely at the layers, you'll understand what I mean -- even if you manage to get through all of them, one layer of this grid system is bound to catch you,' General Ghai said, addressing a special media briefing on Operation Sindoor on Monday, May 12, 2025, afternoon.
Virat Kohli on Monday announced his retirement from Test cricket, after a 14-year career.
He turned up in 123 Tests for India, scoring 9,230 runs with 30 hundreds at an average of 46.85. He will now only play ODIs, having already retired from T20 Internationals last year.
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