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Let’s turn the clock back to last year. Rohit Sharma walks in and destroys the opposition in the first power-play. The Indian captain is literally winning all the matches in the first 10 overs of the 2023 50-over World Cup. After his departure, Virat Kohli hogs the center stage by scoring centuries one after the other.
But the passage of time seems to have taken a toll on the star players. It’s time to reflect and take a critical perspective on the current form and future prospects of Rohit and Virat in T20 cricket, contrasting their past successes with their recent performances.
So far in the ongoing T20 World Cup, the fans aren’t able to hear such resonance, as runs aren’t flowing from the bats of Rohit and Kohli. They are not able to find their feet here. This isn’t the format that they should be playing at all. Their performances in the last four matches that India have played in the T20 World Cup, all have been damn squib. They have been lackluster.
There is growing criticism about their inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad, with suggestions that younger players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rinku Singh should have been given more opportunities. The chorus has so much momentum that both Rohit and Kohli are questioned as to why they are playing this tournament. This event is meant for grooming youngsters. So, what happened to that? All the reputation that Kohi and Rohit earned after their superlative show in the 2023 World Cup, is just going down the barrel.
The biggest sign for any star fading at the highest level comes calling when he starts scoring against lesser-known teams. However, there is nothing like playing against the minnows in T20. If the biggest stars of Indian cricket – Virat and Rohit – aren’t as powerful as they were in the past, it isn’t an unnatural phenomenon.
Believe it or not, both Virat and Rohit aren’t a patch of what there were in the past in white ball cricket. They have past their prime. They may come and play a blinder once in a while. But they are playing this T20 format forcefully. So much so that this T20 World Cup clearly would be last for both these stalwarts. And Gautam Gambhir joining them as head coach is just a warning signal for them to say goodbye to T20 cricket.
