It’s strange how the spotlight is on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli - two players not part of the T20I squad taking on South Africa.
It’s strange how the spotlight is on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – two players not part of the T20I squad taking on South Africa. There are young faces who have been part of the setup for a while now, and, more importantly, they have done enough to be the sure-starters in T20Is in the next World Cup. They have been fearless, something India have emphasised severely in white-ball cricket, and have still been successful reasonably.
But Rohit and Kohli are prominent figures, even when the former hasn’t done anything significant in T20s lately and will remain in contention until they decide to retire. Both haven’t played any T20I game since India’s semifinal exit in the T20 World Cup 2022. Still, the doors aren’t closed for them, and their inclusion will be decided based on their IPL performances, if reports are to be believed.
But the thing is, India have only five games left before the World Cup now to try and test everything. After IPL, the Men in Blue will directly play the T20 World Cup, and their T20Is end with the series against Afghanistan in January 2024. IPL can be a parameter to judge a player’s form or provide some game time for the World Cup players, but it shouldn’t guarantee a spot straight to the T20 World Cup squad, even if the players are Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“Yes, there are limited T20Is, but we will also have 14 league games in IPL [IPL 2024] as well. Players have a lot of games under their belt. So we don’t think there’ll be an issue,” stated Suryakumar before the first T20I against South Africa.
When they skipped ODIs in 2022 and T20Is this year, Rohit Sharma explained that they wanted to focus on the World Cup and decided to skip the other format.
“Last year, also we (he & Virat) did the same thing – the T20 World Cup was there, so we didn’t play one-day cricket. Now, also we are doing the same. The ODI World Cup is there, so we are not playing T20s,” explained Rohit in August earlier this year.
It worked in the previous two events because India had ample games before the World Cup. For example, Virat Kohli played 19 ODIs, while Rohit Sharma featured in 18 after the T20 World Cup 2022 and before the ODI World Cup 2023. It was enough to get into the groove and acclimatise to the 50-over format.
Also Read: Ravi Bishnoi seals his T20 World Cup spot with consistent wickets
Even this time, India were allotted 11 T20Is after the ODI World Cup, which is enough preparations-wise. But Rohit and Kohli rightly rested in the five-match T20I series against Australia. The problem is the duo aren’t in the three-match T20I series against South Africa.
Rohit and Kohli will get at least 14 IPL games, but if they come back after a stellar performance in the tournament, it will disrupt the combinations made during their absence. While both shouldn’t be, especially Rohit Sharma, even if the selectors want to give them a chance, the duo should have been on the South Africa tour. If they play against Afghanistan, the duo will have only three T20Is before the main event.
Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj were also unavailable in the Australia series but are back for the South Africa series. They will get at least six international matches to settle in and understand their role in the team. After that, these players will also play in the IPL to further strengthen their preparations and get used to this format after a lengthy 50-over cricket.
England also tried to bring in experienced world-class players without ample game time and suffered massively in this year’s World Cup. They un-retired Ben Stokes and brought in the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, only to end with three wins in the seventh position. England’s debacle depicts that no matter how skilled a player is or how well they have performed in the past, the lack of international game time will catch you in mega events.
IPL will do everything – testing against world-class players and providing enough match time and opportunities to work on the loopholes. All it can’t do is impart an ideal combination to the Indian team without any game. In fact, IPL’s purpose will be better served if the ones India have tried in the last year or so test themselves while performing in the crunch situations, which the league presents in every other game.
While Rohit and Virat were in fantastic form in the World Cup 2023, T20 is a different game, as is visible in their own game. Even though Virat Kohli has been a match-winner, Rohit Sharma doesn’t deserve to be near the squad if the performances are considered. Despite playing iconic knocks, Kohli shouldn’t play either because better options are available now.
All the young guns included are proven IPL performers, and they deserve to be in the squad after doing all the hard yards in the bilateral series. It will be unfortunate for them to miss out just because Rohit and Virat are experienced and big names. This experience hasn’t worked for them in this particular format, as visible from their defeats in the T20 World Cup semifinal in 2016 and 2022.
Ajinkya Rahane played a match-losing knock against the West Indies in Wankhede Stadium, while Rohit Sharma did the same in Adelaide last year. Of course, Virat Kohli could have also done better than making 50 off 40 balls. Now that India have banked on seasoned campaigners and failed, they should let the young ones do what they have been doing in the past year. Even if they go down, they will go down fighting, unlike the experienced ones.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
