Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be almost 40 years old when the next ODI World Cup takes place in 2027. The World Cup will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia as the African continent will host the ICC event.
Rohit Sharma has been playing cricket continuously since the ODI World Cup. He led the team in the T20 World Cup as well and won the World Cup title. His recent World Cup win has motivated the new management under Gautam Gambhir to continue with him as the ODI captain of the team from now on.
Former Indian batsman and selector Saba Karim said in a conversation with News 24 Sports that Rohit can play in the 2027 ODI World Cup if everything goes well. He pointed to Rohit’s fitness with his comments and said that a lot depends on how fit Rohit can stay by the time the next ODI World Cup begins.
Saba Karim talks about Rohit Sharma’s future in ODIs
“It depends on Rohit Sharma as an individual. If we look at his performance, there are no shortcomings and we are seeing more and more progress. If everything goes well, even after the Champions Trophy, Rohit maintains the same form, then it is difficult to say whether he will be able to play in the 2027 ODI World Cup. It will be a year-on-year strategy and he will evaluate himself after the Champions Trophy and decide whether he can continue playing or not,” Saba Karim was quoted as saying on News 24 Sports.
The BCCI was almost forced to retain Rohit Sharma as the captain of the T20I team due to Hardik Pandya having injury issues. This is exactly the reason why Hardik was not named as Rohit’s successor as the management and Gambhir felt that Suryakumar Yadav would be a better option. As of now, SKY has been named as the new T20I captain for India and will lead the team in the T20I series against Sri Lanka.
Rohit Sharma has also been in tremendous batting form since the ODI World Cup. He finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the 2023 ODI World Cup scoring 597 runs at an average of 54.27. Virat Kohli was the top-scorer with 765 runs in the tournament at an average of 95.62. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer also finished among the top run-scorers and both of them are back in the ODI squad as well.
In her interaction with News 24 Sports, Saba Karim also spoke about the two teams that have been selected for the series. She explained how the management came together to select a team and maintain the fact that the players needed continuity. She also explained why names like Abhishek Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal were not considered.
Speaking about the ODI squad, he said that the management has banked on experience and decided to call up players like Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, who performed well in the middle order. The addition of Riahabh Pant further strengthens the ODI setup as it provides the option of an aggressive left-hander. In his interaction, he also shared his views on the selection of Suryakumar Yadav instead of Hardik Pandya as the captain of the team in T20Is.
Talking about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Gambhir in his press conference also made it clear that if they maintain their physical standards, they can play in the 2027 ODI World Cup as well as no one can question their potential as players.
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