India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph marked the end of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s illustrious T20I careers last month. The legendary duo announced their retirement from the international shortest format, paving the way for the young generation.
While former batting coach Vikram Rathour acknowledged the difficulty of replacing Rohit and Kohli, he believes the young Indian batters possess the necessary skills to navigate through this transitional phase successfully.
According to Rathour, the key lies in managing the transition in a "controlled and gradual manner".
"It is never going to be easy to replace people of Rohit and Virat's calibre," Rathour told PTI in an exclusive interview.
"The recently-concluded series against Zimbabwe (on Sunday) gave us some glimpse into how the T20 team will look like in future. But we still have a few years in Test and ODI cricket to get to that point," he added.
Rathour, who has also served as the national selector in the past, has a deep understanding of the country's cricketing talent.
"I won't be too concerned about it. We have a lot of depth in Indian cricket. There are lots of very talented and skilful players who are coming through the system. The only thing we need to make sure is the transition is done in a controlled manner. It needs to be gradual,” he remarked.
The departing batting coach expressed confidence in Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasavi Jaiswal among others to take Indian cricket forward by the time Rohit and Kohli hang up their boots.
"I am hoping that by then, players like Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasavi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel to name a few, would establish themselves and will make the transition smooth. In ODIs also, we have experienced players like Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya to take over," he stated.
Commenting on Gill and Jaiswal, Rathour said: "There are many exciting players coming through but these two are equipped to play all three formats for a long time. They are going to be the backbone of Indian batting in years to come."
Rinku Singh might be considered as T20I specialist by many, but Vikram Rathour expects the southpaw to excel as a Test batter.
"When I see him (Rinku) bat in nets, I can't find any technical reasons why Rinku cannot be a successful Test batter. I understand he has made his name as a terrific finisher in T20 cricket but if you look at his first-class record, he is averaging in high 50s.
"He (Rinku) is also blessed with a very calm temperament. So all these factors indicate that if given an opportunity, he can develop into a Test cricketer," he opined.
Rathour also talked about Kohli's prolonged slump as the star batter failed to hit a hundred from November 2019 to September 2022.
"There were no technical issues that we worked on specifically during this phase. The constant messaging to him was to keep working hard and believe in his methods. Eventually he came back stronger and an even better player," he said.
