Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are at the fag end of their international careers. The modern greats have already retired from T20I and Test cricket. As things stand, the only cricket they play in between ODI fixtures is the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Their fitness and body are on the decline. Yes, form is temporary, and class is permanent, but not for someone of their ages. The decision to remove Rohit as India’s ODI captain despite him winning the Champions Trophy earlier in the year is a clear indication that they’ll need to earn their spots.
The 2027 ODI World Cup will be the goal for them. But no one has a magical orb that can determine how well they’ll be playing in two years. Everyone knows how quickly Rohit went from a batter in form to getting dropped as India’s Test captain in Australia. That’s why the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to replace him with Shubman Gill as ODI skipper.
Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli on their toes
Sunil Gavaskar thinks Rohit and Kohli should be ready for whatever may come. Rohit has already been removed as captain, and who knows if the BCCI won’t tell them both to retire, or they’ll get dropped if they underperform in a couple of series.
“Ha bilkul (Yes, absolutely) … Of course. If you are non-committal, if you can’t say whether you’ll be ready for the next two years, be ready (for more bad news),” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
Neither has played a competitive match since June. It’ll be tough to get going. They can do it, but it won’t be easy. Gavaskar thinks they need to keep in touch and should play in the domestic 50-over tournament, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, to better prepare for the upcoming ODI cricket since they play matches at intervals of over a month at times.
“Even if they are aware that if they only have to play ODI, there are rarely any. For that, they need to practice more and play something like the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This is possibly why they have taken that stance,” Gavaskar added.
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