The buzz surrounding Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's future in T20I cricket has become a hot topic among the cricket fraternity, especially after India's loss in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final against Australia.
Since Team India's exit from the ICC T20 World Cup semi-finals in November 2022, captain Rohit and Kohli have been absent from the shortest format of the game. In Rohit’s absence, Hardik Pandya has been captaining the Indian team in T20Is since then.
However, former India pacer Ashish Nehra believes that both Kohli and Rohit should continue in T20Is given their current excellent form, and any selector would be tempted to have the modern-era legends in the Indian squad.
Ashish Nehra said on JioCinema: “Virat Kohli is scoring 800 runs, 1000 runs in a calendar year. The way Rohit Sharma is batting, any selector will be tempted. Although they might have a discussion about whether or not Kohli and Rohit want to play the format 'okay I might not play, I might rest'.”
Nehra further stressed that as long as Rohit and Kohli are scoring runs and enjoying their game, they are good enough to play any format. He said the senior batters should be considered for T20I selection unless they announce their retirement from the shorter format of the game.
He signed off by saying, “Unless they announce their retirement from the format in some time, I hope that's not the case. Both Rohit and Virat are good enough to play any format as long as they are scoring runs and having fun.”
Notably, Rohit has so far played 148 T20Is and scored 3853 runs at a strike-rate of nearly 140 with the help of four hundreds and 29 half-centuries. On the other hand, Kohli amassed 4008 runs in 115 T20I matches with the help of one hundred and 37 fifties.
