The future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli looks bleak, as selectors have shown the guts to take hard calls ahead of the Australia white-ball tour. Former cricketer Aakash Chopra chides the two legends, claiming that, “They have tied their hands themselves.”
Rohit Sharma has been snubbed as the captain of the Indian side, with Shubman Gill named as his successor. The future looks quite uncertain, as the duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit, once viewed as indispensable, now needs to show their calibre as well as consistency if they are willing to make their trip to South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe for the next World Cup possible.
“But if they had continued playing the Test format, then they would have played a lot more cricket,” claims Aakash Chopra
The Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra stated that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have restricted themselves by retiring from the longest format of the game earlier this year. His comments come in the aftermath of the squad being announced for the Australia tour.
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“They have tied their hands themselves. The moment you retire from the Test format, I thought T20 was absolutely par for the course because when you won the World Cup, you retire, that’s fine.”
“But if they had continued playing the Test format, then they would have played a lot more cricket, not just Test cricket, but also first-class cricket elsewhere, and to keep themselves in serious form,” Chopra said on ESPNCricinfo.
“It’s form-dependent that if you keep scoring the runs, you find a place in the side” – Aakash’s direct advice to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
The Indian legend Virat Kohli has the record for scoring the most centuries in ODI cricket, while he also finds himself in the same boat as Rohit Sharma, who, on the other hand, scored 3 double centuries in his ODI career. Chopra believes that the batters need to have consistency if they want to keep their places in the Indian playing XI.
“But now if you’re playing the ODI format, something that I said for Rohit is also true for Virat Kohli. Of course, Virat has these phenomenal wide ball numbers, one day numbers, maybe slightly better than Rohit Sharma as well, even though Rohit has three double centuries to his name,” said Chopra.
“But again, it’s form-dependent that if you keep scoring the runs, you find a place in the side. If you don’t, then there might be somebody else in the waiting,” he added.
Ajit Agarkar explained his decision to replace Rohit Sharma as ODI skipper
The Chief Indian selector Ajit Agarkar went on to explain that India is unlikely to play in many ODI matches in the coming two years, hence making it important to give the next captain, Shubman Gill, some time to grow into a true leader until the 2027 ICC World Cup.
“One-day cricket is the format played the least, which means there aren’t many opportunities to give the next captain time to prepare.”
