'No need to....' Former Indian stumper opines on Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli's T20I future

A lot has been said and written about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's T20I future following the T20 World Cup, which took place last year in Australia. Following India's ten-wicket defeat at the hands of eventual winners England in the semi-finals, many thought it was the end of the road for Rohit and Kohli, two of India's finest batters, in the shortest format of the game. While nothing official has been annonunced, it seems the BCCI selectors have started to move on from the two senior pros as they are believed to shift their focus solely on this year's ODI World Cup, in India, whereas India have relied on Hardik Pandya to lead a young and inexperienced T20I team since the T20 WC debacle.

With Hardik being touted as the next T20I captain, also the next white-ball skipper after Rohit, and BCCI selectors relying on young guns for the shortest format, there is uncertainity regarding Rohit and Kohli's future in the format. Ahead of the India-Sri Lanka ODIs, which gets underway on Tuesday (January 10), Karim toldNews Sports, "I feel there is no need to pick them currently. Yes, they can be considered if they do well in the IPL,” said Karim. He added, “There is a chance that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will have a fantastic IPL season. If that happens, the selectors will not be able to look beyond them. The same happened in Dinesh Karthik's case last year."

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Ahead of the SL ODIs, captain Rohit has confirmed that he hasn't given up on the T20I format. It will be interesting to see if the selectors consider bringing back the senior duo in the upcoming series or after IPL 2023. Given that India have started preparations for the ODI WC, to be held in India in October-November, Rohit and Kohli have shifted their focus on the 50-over format.

Rohit and Kohli will be seen in action for the first time in 2023 when India take on Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI series opener on Tuesday (January 10) in Guwahati.

India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka

Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya (VC), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh