India’s loss to Australia in the World Cup 2023 was indeed heartbreaking but it’s also important to move on and focus on the future challenges. The next big hurdle for India is the T20 World Cup 2023 in the US and the Caribbean and it’s yet to be seen if stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be part of it.
Team India has changed their template in the shortest format of the game since their exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Hardik Pandya has been leading the side while the seniors, like Kohli, Ashwin, Rohit and Shami, have been replaced by the youngsters. With a new coach likely to be coming at the helm, the team shall persist with their T20 set-up and prepare accordingly for the upcoming World Cup which is roughly 7 months away from now.
As far as the case of Rohit and Virat are concerned, they have not turned up for India in T20Is since November 2022. However, former Pakistan pace legend Shoaib Akhtar feels that they have a lot of cricket left in them.
Speaking with Zee News, Akhtar emphasized that there is no better opening batter than Rohit Sharma in the world at the moment.
“If you ask do Rohit and Kohli have cricket left in them? Yes, definitely. Do you get a better opener than Rohit in the world right now? No, you don’t,” he told Zee News.
Akhtar said if the transition phase takes place like it has been happening after the conclusion of every World Cup, then it should be Hardik’s responsibility to make them phase out respectfully. However, it’s uncertain as of yet if the latter will lead the side in the mega event next year.
“When Dhoni came, he gave respect to Sachin Tendulkar. When Virat came, he respected Dhoni. When Rohit replaced Virat, he also gave him respect. So, now it’s up to Hardik Pandya how he wants to send these two great players off. It’s up to him now to put his put down. And he has to bid them goodbye respectfully,” Akhtar said.
“They deserve this respect. I’m maybe putting pressure on Hardik Pandya through this but he needs to give that respect to Rohit and Kohli. He is in the team because of them. The kind of favours he has got in the team from them should be repaid. And they are legends of Indian cricket, so they should be given due respect before they are let go,” he added.
Since Hardik couldn’t recover to be a part of the ongoing series against the Aussies, Suryakumar Yadav has been named the captain of the side. While Jasrit Bumrah happens to be the other player for India’s ODI World Cup squad, Shreyas Iyer will join the team for the last couple of matches – on December 1 & 3, in Raipur and Bengaluru.
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