Speculation continues regarding the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat KohliImage Credit Source: PTI
There is no speculation about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s retirement. These two veteran players of Team India and World Cricket retired from T20 International and Test cricket within the last one year. Now both the players are active only in ODI format and here too, there are talk of showing them the door. A report claimed that the journey of both these superstars may end with the ODI series on Australia tour. But it seems that this is not a big issue for the Board of Control for Cricket in India and it is not in a hurry mood.
Virat and Rohit retired from this format with winning the T20 World Cup in 2024. At the same time, in May, both of them suddenly surprised everyone by announcing retirement from Test cricket. Since then, it is continuously believed that both of them took this decision with expectations of playing in World Cup 2027. But on Sunday, August 10, a newspaper report claimed that Virat and Rohit are nowhere in the team management plan for the ODI World Cup and both of them may end up completely with the ODI series on the tour of Australia.
But is it really so? Is BCCI really to retire the two biggest batsmen of this format immediately? According to a report by news agency PTI, it is not so. In this report, sources related to BCCI have been quoted that the board is focused on the Asia Cup T20 and if there is anything in the mind of Virat-Rohit, then like retirement from Test cricket, he will tell BCCI this time too. Rohit and Virat had talked about retirement by talking to BCCI officials themselves before the team selection for the Test series for the England tour and the board believes that if these two giants themselves have made up their mind to retire from ODI, then they will tell the officials again like Test Retirement.
The BCCI source made it clear that the board’s focus is currently on sending a strong T20 team to the Asia Cup 2025. This tournament will start from September 9 and will run till September 28, which will prove to be important for the preparations for the next year’s T20 World Cup. In such a situation, the board will not hurry to get Virat and Rohit out of the team or to push towards retirement. Even it has been clarified that the board has not made any discussion about giving Farewell to both batsmen in Sydney on 25 October.
Not only this, it was claimed that Rohit and Virat would be asked to play the domestic ODI Tournament Vijay Hazare Trophy but in the PTI report, the BCCI source said that Team India would have played 6 ODIs before this tournament starting on December 24, while there will be 3 ODIs between India and Nine Zealand before this Vijay Hazare is over. In such a situation, will they be really asked to play in this tournament, there is doubt about it.
