Former West Indies batter Chris Gayle opined on the future of the Indian cricket team’s veterans, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, saying that both of them have done incredible service for their country and deserve to make their own call for their future.
Gayle, who is the highest run-getter in T20 cricket, stated Kohli and Sharma should be given the ownership of their future.
“Those guys (Rohit and Virat) should make the call. They should give the opportunity to those guys to make the call and if those guys want to do, I am sure they will,” Gayle said.
“Why not? They have done incredible service and they deserve to make a call of their own and I am sure they will be given that respect for what they have for the country. It’s phenomenal and fantastic. So, Virat and Rohit should have the say, I wanna do it or I don’t wanna do it. Give them the ownership.”
Following India’s heartbreaking loss in the ICC World Cup 2023 final against Australia, a lot has been said about the future of the top two run scorers of the mega event and with the 2024 T20 World Cup approaching, the questions about Rohit and Virat’s inclusion have been asked by the cricketing fraternity.
Since India lost in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final to England, neither of them has played a single shorter-format game and in Sharma’s absence, all-rounder Hardik Pandya was given the keys to lead the team and he has done it well since then.
While both batters performed way beyond expectations in the World Cup on home soil, Kohli scoring 765 and Sharma amassing 597 runs, their participation in the next ICC tournament isn’t assured.
India are currently playing a five-match T20I series against Australia in their home and, once again, both batters aren’t included in the squad as Suryakumar Yadav was named the captain in Pandya’s absence.
- Virat Kohli
- Chris Gayle
- Rohit Sharma