Virat Kohli will play 2027 World Cup but Rohit Sharma would faint: Ex-BCCI chairman of selectors rules out India captain
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma fans, rejoice. Your beloved stalwarts are pretty much in the reckoning for a place in India’s 2027 World Cup squad. When India’s 2023 World Cup campaign last year ended in a heartbreak with a loss to Australia in the final, it was believed that Rohit and Kohli’s ODI careers will end without winning the 50-overs World Cup together. And although they did have their brotherly moment under the sun when India lifted the T20 World Cup in the West Indies, the fact that new head coach Gautam Gambhir has kept the doors open for them to have one more shot at World Cup glory, sets the stage for the stage for an ideal swansong for India’s superstar batting duo.
But there’s a catch. By the time the 2027 World Cup arrives, Rohit would be 40, and Kohli 39. Gambhir himself has stressed that for Ro-Ko to feature in the World Cup scheme of things, they would need to be fit. And when it comes to fitness, there is no better than Kohli. Now that he has retired from T20Is, Kohli has the chance to manage his workload better if he plans on continuing for three more years. Rohit, on the other hand, may not be as athletic as Kohli, but the India captain is pretty fit himself.
Rohit Sharma is a good player, but his age is 37 presently, and the next ODI World Cup is three more years ahead. He will be 40 years old then. You can’t play World Cup at 40s. Yeah, Virat Kohli could play in the 2027 World Cup, in my opinion, for sure. But for Rohit, Mr. Gambhir, you went overboard; he will faint in South Africa,” he said.