Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's back-to-back announcements of retirement from Test cricket sent shockwaves across the cricketing world.

Their exit also brought the curtains down on a golden era of Indian cricket. However, cricket aficionados wonder what might have prompted the dual exit. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar shared his thoughts and gave a pointed perspective.Suggesting that age and the physical demands of long international tours may have played a decisive role in their timing, Gavaskar said: "All of us in Indian cricket wanted them to keep playing."If you have to make a decision, they are the only ones who can do it.

Maybe they decided that if this were a 3-match series, it would have been a different story. But maybe this being 5 Test matches across 6 weeks, there's no break, maybe that's why they did it," the 75-year-old said on Sports Tak.Gavaskar also attempted to analyse what might have gone through Kohli's mind before taking the call. Citing the failure in the Australia tour, where all the Indian players were criticised for their poor performances, the Indian batting legend pointed out how players start having self-doubt."Sometimes you ask yourselves those questions, do I still have that ability, am I finding satisfaction in this. When you start asking these questions, you start telling yourself that if I remove myself, it will be better. To quash those thoughts is difficult," he explained.Kohli had a glittering Test career, accumulating 9230 runs in 210 Test innings. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, scored 4301 runs in 116 innings.