Kohli announces shock retirement due to ‘stress-induced cardiomyopathy’

Cricketer bows out day defeat by West Indies owing to health concerns


AFD April 01, 2016
PHOTO: AFP

In perhaps the most shocking sports development this year, Indian cricket whiz Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the game owning to "health concerns".

In a statement released through BCCI, Kohli, whose heroics in the ongoing World T20, turned his harshest critics into believers, stated he was diagnosed with “stress-induced cardiomyopathy” after experiencing chest pains late last night.

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West Indies defeated India in a nail-biting match Thursday night, qualifying for the finals where they will meet England. The very last over of the match was bowled by none other than Kohli, and with 3 needed off 3, a sixer sealed the deal.

“To all my fans, I am sorry I could not live up to your expectations but I need to take care of myself now,” he concluded in the statement.

Indian captain MS Dhoni, who stole the show in the post-match interviews by getting a reporter to denounce rumours of his own resignation, was visibly shaken by the news of the wonder-boy's diagnoses and subsequent retirement, and declined to comment.

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Sources, however, shared that Kohli’s friends and colleagues were less than surprised. "He had it coming. He was really stressed out over the past couple of days. You saw what happened on Twitter with the whole “shame” thing,” said an insider.

Another source and close confidante went on to elaborate, “You see, stress-induced cardiomyopathy is basically heartbreak syndrome na. Go figure.”

Meanwhile, in India, fans reacted to the news with anger and tears.

“How can he … but how can he?” said Arjum Pamal, 14, from Kolkata, tears running down his cheeks.

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Scores of them blamed only one person:  Bollywood star and his ex girlfriend Anushka Sharma. #CallHimBackAnushka started trending worldwide on Twitter soon after the news broke.

Got fooled? It's okay, pass it on by fooling your best friend and share the link!



COMMENTS (38)

Babbarsher Khan | 7 years ago | Reply Is it halal to play pranks in All Fools' Day? Until and unless Maulana Sherani of CII confirms, I would not enjoy it (even though it was good one!) ;-). Keep it up!
Yul47 London | 7 years ago | Reply Kohli has set the right tone in announcing his retirement whatever may be the real reasons and Pakistani cricketers should take a cue from it. The players passed their best should retire with no such excuse of family pressure. The T20 game has evolved like American baseball into a game of pinch hitters, who have an eye for the ball and are strong to make a front assault. Pakistan found Sharjeel Khan and players like Sharjeel be given specialist coaching to develop their natural talent. Any player passed his best be side lined as a forced removal may be the only option to get rid of them. A rookie bowler in Mohammed Asghar of Zilmi should be given a further look as he is the bowler with quality Pakistan dearly missed.
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