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Team India is about to embark on a period of
transition, as is customary following an ODI World Cup. The players and
supporters will need some time to move past their sadness from the final, but
the selectors must consider the future as quickly as possible.
India’s skipper Rohit Sharma will be 40 and captain
Virat Kohli would be 39 when the next ODI World Cup takes place in 2027. Head
coach Rahul Dravid has reportedly decided not to stay. Does the BCCI believe
that at that point, both Rohit and Kohli can play at their peak? The board and
selectors have an immediate decision to make before considering what might
occur in four years.
Next year’s T20 World Cup is scheduled for June.
There’s hardly time to change attention to the most condensed format. For
India, roughly speaking. Officially, they don’t have a captain or head coach.
Although Hardik Pandya has been leading India in Twenty20 Internationals
(T20Is) for the past 12 months or so, it is still unclear, at least officially,
if he will lead India in the West Indies and the USA in seven months.
Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar feels India
won’t get a better opener than Rohit and that both he and Kohli have a lot of
cricket left in them. “If you ask do Rohit and Kohli have cricket left in
them? Yes, definitely. Do you get a better opener than Rohit in the world right
now? No, you don’t,” he told Zee News.
According to Akhtar, if there is a transition phase,
Hardik (assuming he would up the captaincy role) should be in charge of
ensuring that it ends amicably. Akhtar used Dhoni’s interaction with Sachin
Tendulkar as an example, as well as Kohli’s handling of Dhoni after the latter
had given up his captaincy.
“When Dhoni came, he gave respect to Sachin
Tendulkar. When Virat came, he respected Dhoni. When Rohit replaced Virat, he
also gave him respect. So, now it’s up to Hardik Pandya how he wants to send
these two great players off. It’s up to him now to put his put down. And he has
to bid them goodbye respectfully. They deserve this respect. I’m maybe putting
pressure on Hardik Pandya through this but he needs to give that respect to
Rohit and Kohli. He is in the team because of them. The kind of favours he has
got in the team from them should be repaid. And they are legends of Indian
cricket, so they should be given due respect before they are let go,”
Akhtar added.