The Indian cricket has been pressed hard into a huge transition over the course of one week with stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announcing their retirements ahead of the five-match Test tour to England in June.
Following Rohit who quit the longest format last week, Kohli dropped the bombshell announcement on Monday, ending his career with 9230 runs in 123 Tests. While both Kohli and Rohit have committed themselves to hold on in the ODI format, India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar feels that India’s superstar duo will not make it to the next Cricket World Cup in late 2027.
The veteran batters were integral to India’s Champions Trophy triumph in March this year in Dubai, with Kohli top-scoring in the semi-final against Australi and Rohit leading the charge against New Zealand with his blazing 76, deeming him Player-of-the-Match.
With India’s red-ball squad moving into transition, Gavaskar feels that Rohit and Kohli’s futures in the 50-overs format depends entirely on how the team management and selectors’ perspective.
“They have been massive performers in this format of the game. Again, the selection committee will probably be looking at the 2027 World Cup. They will be looking at whether they will be able to be in the team for the 2027 World Cup?’ Will they be able to make the kind of contributions they have been making?’ That will be the thought process of the selection committee. If the selection committee thinks ‘yes, they can’, then both of them will be there for that,” Gavaskar told in a chat with Sports Today.
Candid in his admission, Gavaskar said that he could not foresee the two prolific batters making it to the next iteration of the World Cup.
“No, I don’t think they will be playing. I am being very honest. But, who knows, in the next year or so, if they strike a rich vein of form, and if they keep scoring hundreds and hundreds, even God can’t drop them,” Gavaskar stressed.
