Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli ended the year on a strong note with brilliant performances against South Africa, but the situation regarding their place in the 2027 World Cup is still unclear. The new year will bring new decisions and challenges for both.
Rohit-Virat: With the increasing cold of December, the new year is around the corner and with this, a new chapter is also going to begin for the two legends of Indian cricket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Both batsmen ended the year on a high note by scoring half-centuries in the decisive ODI against South Africa. In this three-match series, Virat Kohli scored 302 runs and became the Player of the Series, while Rohit Sharma contributed to the team’s victory by scoring 146 runs. The batting performances of both showed that despite criticism and ups and downs, they maintained their focus and class.
Form remained intact despite criticism throughout the year
This year has been challenging for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both emotionally and professionally. He has been criticized many times, especially regarding his age, fitness and his role in the team. But he did not let all these things dominate his batting.
Both responded with the bat and showed that their experience and style is the backbone of Indian batting. Not only this, keeping the 2027 World Cup in mind, Rohit Sharma also showed seriousness about fitness by losing weight, which proved that he is still equally passionate about big tournaments.
No official guarantee of 2027 World Cup
However, despite scoring runs, Rohit and Virat have not been assured that they will be a part of the 2027 World Cup. Both of them had to retire from Test cricket in 2025. In his social media post, the argument of workload was given, but there was a lot of discussion among the fans that perhaps there was indirect pressure on him. Both of them said goodbye to this format even before the Test series against England and after this the red ball captaincy was handed over to Shubman Gill.
Discussion of displeasure over Gill getting ODI captaincy
Rohit Sharma was moving forward with the dream of winning the trophy under his captaincy in the 2027 World Cup, but before the Australia tour, the ODI captaincy was taken away from him and handed over to Shubman Gill. This decision was shocking for many cricket experts and fans, because in the same year Rohit Sharma had won the Champions Trophy for India under his captaincy and the team had also reached the final in the 2023 World Cup.
News of sourness in the dressing room too
Issues regarding the internal environment of cricket also kept coming to the fore. Throughout the year, only formal talks were seen between Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir, while there was talk of even more discomfort regarding the relationship between Virat Kohli and Gambhir. Gambhir has expressed more confidence in the young players and it is often believed that this decision has been taken as a part of the policy of giving opportunities to new faces in place of senior players. In the press conference after winning the South Africa series, Gambhir clearly said that the World Cup is still two years away and in such a situation it is necessary to prepare new players.
New journey will start from New Zealand series in 2026
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will now be seen on the field only in January next year. New Zealand team will tour India and three ODI and five T20 matches will be played between the two teams. The ODI series will start from January 11. Both the stars play only ODI format, so their entire focus will now be on this series, which can play an important role in deciding the direction of World Cup 2027. This series will tell how the management is viewing him and how strong his role will be in the team in future.
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