Former Indian maestro Sunil Gavaskar has exclaimed that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s availability for the Australia ODIs is driven by the agenda that they are the same opposition against whom India lost in the 2023 World Cup final.
India will tour Australia for a three-match ODI series from the 19th of October, and then it will be followed by a 5-match T20I series, which is expected to begin on the 29th of October. This series marks the preparations for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2027 in South Africa, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been named in the squad by the BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar.
Sunil Gavaskar noted Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s agenda behind ODI availability
Sunil Gavaskar strongly believed that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had made themselves available because it was a series against Australia. The Aussies were the only opposition against whom India had lost in the previous edition of the 2023 World Cup.
Your daily dose of cricket!
He further added that had the series been against the likes of the West Indies or minnows like Zimbabwe, then the two would not have made themselves available, and the hiatus would have continued.
“I’m pretty certain that if this were a trip to Zimbabwe or the West Indies, both of them would not have been available. But because this is in Australia, and because India lost to Australia in the World Cup final, maybe that is the reason why both of them have decided, yes, I want to be available for this,” he told India Today.
“It depends to a great extent on the number of one-day matches that India plays over,” Gavaskar cites the World Cup selection criteria for Ro-KO
Even the Indian batting legend admitted that the road to selection for the World Cup will indeed be very difficult for both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. This is because they have retired from the other two formats of the game, and their selection largely depends on game time.
“It depends to a great extent on the number of one-day matches that India plays over the next couple of years. Look, it’s not easy to be playing just seven or eight ODIs in a season while preparing for something as big as a World Cup,” he said.
“For those eight white-ball matches, there are probably five T20s and three ODIs. That is not giving much in terms of exposure or practice for players who are approaching the latter stages of their careers,” he further added.
Sunil Gavaskar also asks Indian legends to play in the Vijay-Hazare Trophy
Aligning with the views of Indian Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar, Sunil Gavaskar also stressed the need for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to make themselves available for the upcoming edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This would be essential to keep their World Cup dreams alive since India has a very limited international schedule in the 50-over format.
“They will have to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy in India whenever it’s scheduled, if it doesn’t clash with any international ODI tournaments. That’s one way to stay in trim and maintain match practice,” he said.
ALSO READ: “It will be 12-0” – Suryakumar Yadav brutally trolls Pakistan Women with ‘no-rivalry’ claim
