‘We’ve played our entire career together’: Rohit Sharma opens up on bond with Virat Kohli

For most of their international careers, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have shared the dressing room and built one of India’s most successful batting partnerships. They have seen each other grow into modern-day greats and both went on to captain India in all three formats, with Rohit taking over the leadership after Kohli. The two legends also retired from Tests and T20Is around the same time. Now, as they enter the final phase of their international careers, their biggest aim is to help India win the 2027 ODI World Cup.

Although there is uncertainty over their ODI futures, especially after reports suggested the selectors may be looking beyond Rohit, the pair continues to enjoy batting together and delivering big partnerships.

In the third and final ODI against England at Lord’s, Rohit and Kohli put together their 21st century partnership in ODIs as India chased a huge target of 388. Even though India fell short, Rohit said he enjoyed sharing the crease with his long-time teammate.

“We (him and Kohli) played our entire career together, so it was nice to have him in the middle, we have had so many partnerships. It’s fun batting together as we understand each other so much, bouncing off ideas,” Rohit told BCCI.

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Rohit starred with 138, becoming the first Indian batter to score an ODI hundred at Lord’s, while Kohli chipped in with a quick 74 off 60 balls.

The 39-year-old also continued his impressive record in England, scoring his eighth ODI century in the country.

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Overall, Rohit has scored 1,603 runs in 30 ODI innings in England at an average of 64.12.

“I love playing in England. The atmosphere, the grounds, the pitches, when you turn up to play any format over here, it challenges you in different ways. And that’s what you want as a cricketer. To be challenged in every way possible. I enjoyed out there in the middle,” he said.

India eventually lost the series 2-1, with the bowlers coming under criticism after failing to defend big totals. However, Rohit backed the bowling unit, saying the attack is still gaining experience.

“Again with bowling, you got to understand that these guys haven’t played a lot of ODIs and you got give them time. We can learn from this game, take things in our stride and when we again come across situation like this, we try and better ourselves. Disappointed with the result, we couldn’t finish off the game, we have to move on,” he said.