Rohit, Virat, Ashwin fade into retirement after Australia debacle as India stare at new WTC cycle

India's prized Test assets, who carried the country's hopes of carrying its winning momentum in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy, have now faded into retirement as the new World Test Championship cycle is on the cusp of commencement.

- AGENCIES

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravinchandran Ashwin, who bore the brunt of churning out results in favour of the tourists during the gruelling Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, malfunctioned when stakes broke the roof.

Virat announced his retirement on Monday from red-ball cricket and marked the continuation of the trend of exodus from the Test format in the Indian setup. Before the Indian batting bigwigs, the illustrious frontline off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin called it a day on his international career midway through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

Months later, as India blows war sirens to begin the new World Test Championship cycle with five unsparing Tests in England, the Gautam Gambhir-trained troops will lineup without the three stalwarts.

After New Zealand clobbered them to a 3-0 home series defeat, the Indian team landed in Perth last November to salvage its WTC campaign and prevent the scenario where it completely fell apart.

With Rohit observing from the stands, India took a step closer to its WTC ambitions by pummelling the Baggy Greens and cruising to a 295-run victory with consummate ease.