Two of India’s greatest white-ball players, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, could be playing their last ODI series Down Under in October as BCCI looks to plan for 2027 World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe & NamibiaCHENNAI: Virat Kohli fans across the world breathed a sigh of relief when the ODI master posted a picture of himself on social media taking throwdowns in the nets in London. Around the same time, Rohit Sharma was also pictured returning to India, probably with the intent of preparing for a season of cricket ahead.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Over the last couple of months, as the new Team India, under Shubman Gill, went from strength to strength, snatching a famous 2-2 draw in the Test series in England, a narrative started gaining traction. Is this the end of Kohli and Rohit? Should Gill be made the captain of the ODI team as well? Questions were being asked in different forums.
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Should Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retire from ODIs after the series in Australia?
The fact that neither Rohit nor Virat, who announced their T20 retirements in 2024 and hung up their boots in Test cricket earlier this year, were playing any cricket of late added fuel to the speculations. But for now, it seems Rohit and Virat may give it a final shot to the format that they made absolutely their own in the last decade and a half.While power hitters have taken over T20s and the extreme interrogation of red-ball cricket seems to be taking a toll on these two giants, they are still comfortable playing ODIs. In the Champions Trophy earlier this year, which India won, Kohli scored 218 runs from five games while Rohit managed a respectable 180. There was some talk that the duo might call it quits after that, but no announcement was forthcoming.The next ODI World Cup is in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia in OctNov 2027, and it is still more than two years away. India, starting from Oct this year, have 27 scheduled ODIs before the World Cup, in addition to the Asia Cup in 2027, which is in the 50-over format. It is a long way off, and there’s some speculation about the BCCI giving Rohit and Virat a farewell three-match series in Australia in Oct.Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly played it safe in a programme in Kolkata when asked about it. “I am not aware of it… Whoever does well will play. If they do well, they should continue. Kohli’s One-day record is phenomenal, even Rohit’s. Both are phenomenal in white-ball cricket,” he stressed.The big problem, though, is that both Rohit and Virat haven’t played much cricket since the Champions Trophy, and the game tends to move very fast. Middlesex and Surrey, two London-based sides, apparently showed interest in signing Virat up for the Royal London One Day Cup, but the deal didn’t go through.
If Virat and Rohit want to extend their ODI careers beyond Oct, they may have to play domestic One-day tournaments like the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Dec and before that the A series against both Australia and South Africa, in addition to international cricket. At this stage of their careers, there seems to be a bit of a question mark over whether these two legends will be keen to go through the rigours of domestic One-day cricket all over again in obscure centres.Former India opener and national selector Devang Gandhi has a clear take on the issue. He feels that the younger crop has proved beyond doubt that they are ready for every challenge in the recently-concluded Test series. “How will you make players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Sai Sudharshan, among others, sit out when they have shown how well they can adapt? The bigger transition is from T20s to Tests. Once a player has done well in Test cricket and has the power game, ODIs should come easier to them. It is very important that the selectors and the team management sit together and take a call,” Gandhi told TOI.
According to him, game-time is absolutely vital, and the selectors should take an honest call on whether they are convinced that Virat and Rohit will be at the top of their games in two years’ time. “If, say, in a year’s time, we come to a situation where one of them is not firing and we need a replacement, the team management may not have enough time to prepare a player for the job,” Gandhi said.The captaincy issue, too, is vital, and the selectors need to take a call. Gill, quite clearly, has shown he is ready for the job in Tests. Meanwhile, on current form, Gill is arguably India’s best batsman in the ODI format, with an average of 59.04 and a strike rate of 99.56. With his performances, he commands the respect of the team, and ODI captaincy should come easy to him.“There’s absolutely no doubt about the contribution of Rohit and Virat. But time doesn’t wait for anybody,” Gandhi stressed.
