Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter and commentator, Deep Dasgupta, has shared his thoughts on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s return to the T20I set-up ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Kohli and Rohit will be playing their first T20I for Team India since their last outing in the 2022 T20 World Cup, and they are almost in India’s squad for the upcoming mega event in June.
However, it is being said that the Indian selector will finalize the squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 on the basis of players’ form in the upcoming IPL 2024. But Dasgupta believes that the squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 is 90–95 percent final and the playing 11 is 99 percent final.
He further predicted that Kohli will score 500+ runs in the IPL 2024, but he is not sure about Rohit’s form. He is confident that the Indian skipper will lead the Men in Blue in the T20 World Cup 2024.
Deep Dasgupta told Star Sports: “It's going to be important, but for someone like Virat and Rohit you can't decide their future based on the IPL to a certain extent, and I am sure that Virat will score 500+ runs. He scores 500-600 runs, even if the season is too bad.”
He further noted, “It will be interesting to see Rohit this season because he is not leading Mumbai Indians, so it will be a different kind of role for Rohit. I feel that in spite of all the discussions, the squad for WC is 90-95 percent final and the playing 11 is 99 percent final, because I don't think that both will score runs in the IPL.
Another important thing is captaincy because this format is captaincy-based. It's almost fixed that Rohit will be leading as the captain in the World Cup because he is leading, which is supposed to be the last schedule of the series.”
Speaking about the pitches for T20 WC, Dasgupta said: “Usually speaking, pitches in the West Indies are not batting friendly, I started off by saying that if we are expecting a 160-170 kind of game.”
He signed off by saying, “So, I think this is a better option because then you have the stability and experience of both these great guys. We have observed the change in the clarity and the approach after the 50 over World Cup.”
(With Star Sports/PTI Inputs)
