India football team captain Sunil Chhetri discussed with cricket superstar Virat Kohli before announcing his retirement.
The 39-year-old Chhetri, the most capped India footballer with 150 matches to his credit and the country’s top-scorer with 94 goals, will hang his boots after the World Cup qualifying match against Kuwait on June 6 in Calcutta.
Chhetri’s announcement came on Thursday, driven by, what he described as, rather inexplicable instincts. And he chose Kohli as one of his confidantes before going public with his decision.
“I did speak to Virat (Kohli) before my retirement decision, he is very close to me. I discussed it with him because we both understand that we would know this thing exactly the way it is,” Chhetri said during an online media interaction from Bhubaneswar where he is currently part of a national camp for the World Cup Qualifiers.
“The ups and downs of sports, this part of retirement, we do understand that the other person would understand,” he added, trying to describe in words the deep bond they have shared over the years.
Earlier on Friday, Kohli had acknowledged the communication from Chhetri and stated that his fellow Delhiite was at peace with the decision.
“He (Chhetri) is a great player. He messaged me as well informing that he’s going to do that. But I would actually say I felt like he is at peace with the decision,” Kohli said in a short video interview on RCB’s ‘X’ page.
