India’s great players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retired from both formats of international cricket and now play only ODI cricket at the international level for India. He is most likely to retain his place till the ICC World Cup 2027, where India will need two of its most experienced batsmen.
Currently, both the legendary cricketers are part of their respective franchises in the IPL and Virat Kohli has once again shown remarkable consistency not only with the bat but also on the field. However, after making a great start to the season, Rohit is battling some injury concerns.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s former Indian teammate Shikhar Dhawan has warned them about the disrupted flow of players across formats in international cricket; However, they have also backed two great players to get out of the crisis.
Shikhar Dhawan opens up about the struggles of being an all-format player
Former Indian cricketer and former teammate of batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan has said that the low frequency of matches for most cricketers in international cricket is really worrying.
“Yes, when you play one format at the international level, your flow is disrupted,” Dhawan said.
Having spent the latter part of his career as a one-format cricketer, the former Indian star admitted that it can be worrying as players often lose their rhythm in the game. Speaking to PTI, he mentioned these challenges of staying in the flow when opportunities are less.
They [Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli] Know how to turn challenge into opportunity – Shikhar Dhawan
However, he contradicted his own words when he started mentioning it in relation to his former teammates Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He explained that due to the low risk involved in sports, the focus often shifts to maintaining fitness; However, this is not the case with the two experienced Indian batsmen.
“So the players focus on fitness because you are not playing too many games. You are talking about Rohit and Virat, and they are mature individuals. It is a challenge, but they know how to turn the challenge into an opportunity.”
He said, “If you look at his fitness, Virat was always fit, but there has been a tremendous change in Rohit.” Truly, Rohit Sharma has achieved some amazing fitness while Kohli has always been at his best with high fitness levels.
International schedule ahead of CWC 2027 will facilitate both the great players
He then went on to explain how the situation is different for both the stars as they have an upcoming international schedule for India which involves a heavy amount of ODI matches. Players will get immense opportunities to support themselves and revive their rhythm in the format.
“Now the 2027 World Cup is around the corner, they will get to play a lot of ODIs. If you look at the time when I became a format player, there were consecutive T20 World Cups (2021 and 22), and I was playing ODIs, which were very less. So the matches will not be a problem for Rohit and Virat, and there is enough time to organise,” he concluded.
Anyway, Rohit Sharma has scored 650 runs in 14 matches since 2025, and on the other hand, Virat has also scored 651 runs in 13 matches with two and three centuries respectively.
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