1 down, 2 to go: After Rahul Dravid, focus turns to Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli in big decision week

The biggest week in Indian Cricket and the India Cricket Team is upon us. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has a lot of decisions to make. The first up is the BCCI selection committee which will announce the squad for the India Tour of South Africa. And beginning with that, they will have to discuss the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in T20Is.

The ODI World Cup is done and dusted. And this in turn brings up concerns about the future of ace stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The duo are 35 and 36 years old respectively and are approaching the end of their career. With India losing the WC final, it is the end of a World Cup cycle and the beginning of a new one.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli future

As per PTI reports Rohit Sharma will give up T20 cricket to prolong his Test career. Whether he returns to play ODIs is also up for discussion. Virat Kohli who was the highest run-getter in the World Cup is likely to play in the T20 World Cup, but it is quite certain that his days are too numbered in white-ball cricket.

But as Pragyan Ojha has put it, the BCCI has to sit and talk to the two stalwarts of Indian cricket.

“I’m very sure they’ll be talking to the management. And the committee will always take their opinion, what is the future plans, what they’re thinking. Because every player, if you look at every board, what they do is they believe in one cycle. The cycle is from World Cup to World Cup. They prepare the team accordingly. With the ODI World Cup cycle over, the new T20 World Cup cycle will come up. So we’ll see what the management decides and what they talk to Rohit and Virat and what they come up with as well,” Former Pragyan Ojha, IPL Governing council member and India spinner, told Hindustan Times.

Since the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2022, Hardik Pandya has been captain of the side while the seniors like Kohli and Rohit switched focus to ODIs.

India are currently banking on their new generation to set their pace in the T20 squad and thereby build a solid foundation leading up to the ODI and Test team. Given Kohli was the highest run-getter and Rohit second highest, the duo will continue white ball cricket in a much-limited way as the seniors are likely to make way for the youngsters in the coming days.

Rohit who has been destructive in his batting pursuits in the World Cup knows that he is reaching the twilight of his career. With consistently poor forms in the last 3 IPLs (3 fifties in the last 3 years), it is only logical that he passes on the mantle to Hardik Pandya to lead the team in the shortest format of the game.

Return of KL Rahul

KL Rahul had a long and arduous recovery after his hamstring injury in the last IPL. He went under the knife and got himself fit in the weeks leading to the Asia Cup. But he was a late joiner in the team as India went on to lift the ACC Trophy. Since then there has been no looking back for KL.

He retained his job behind the stumps in the World Cup and was handy with the bat in the mega tournament, often stitching important stands with the likes of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer to guide India to victories.

He was obviously retained by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as the skipper of the squad. But his strong form in both batting and keeping has once again opened avenues for him. KL is now the front-runner for the keeper’s role in the T20 World Cup. India has a handy backup option in the form of Ishan Kishan who will most likely retain his place in the team should Rohit Sharma leave T20s.

KL Rahul is also a key player for India in red-ball cricket. With BCCI selectors growing tired of KS Bharat’s inefficiency in scoring runs, and Ishan Kishan relatively young, KL Rahul is the best bet in Test Cricket. The absence of Rishabh Pant who still continues his recovery has also paved a competition-less path for KL to grab his spot across all three formats of the game.

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