Ravi Shastri has worked closely with both Rohit and Kohli during his long and fruitful stints as the Indian team's director and later head coach (AP Photo)Sunil Gavaskar had said that he wasn’t surprised by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failing to make an impact with the bat in India’s first ODI against Australia in Perth and his longtime India teammate Ravi Shastri seemed to echo that sentiment. Shastri, who has worked closely with both India veterans during his long and fruitful stints as the team’s director and later head coach, said that it is better to give Rohit, 38, and Kohli, 36, some time before judging whether they can stay in contention to make it to the squad that plays the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
“When you come back from a long layoff, you are obviously going to be rusty,” said Shastri on ICC Review. “It’s not easy for any overseas team to land in Australia, say, two days prior to a game in Perth and adjust to those conditions straight away, especially when you have that extra bounce, and against quality fast bowlers.”
Both Rohit and Kohli retired from T20Is and Tests around the same time last year and this year respectively. Kohli first announced the end of his T20I career after powering India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title with a player of the match performance in the final. Just hours later, Rohit, who was captain of the team, also said that the thriller of a final against South Africa was his last T20I.
Both players then endured a forgettable Test series in Australia. Rohit in particular scored a meagre 31 runs across five innings. Kohli, meanwhile, scored a century early in the series, an unbeaten 100 not out in Perth, but then scored just 90 more runs across eight innings he played apart from that. Rohit first announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 7 as captain of the team, after which Shubman Gill took over the mantle. Kohli then announced the end of his Test career on May 12.
The retirements meant that both Rohit and Kohli are now active only in ODIs, a format that is not played as often as the other two these days in international cricket. Shastri said that he wants to wait and see how much the pair are still enjoying their cricket. “But I think only time will tell…I’m in no hurry to judge…it’s about how much you’re enjoying the sport and how much hunger is there and passion is left in you to play the game.
“So if you tick the boxes in two out of those three, especially the enjoyment part of it, then you can give them both time because they’ve got class, they’ve got experience…I’d rather wait than jump and judge immediately,” he said,
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