Is it time for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to move aside from T20Is and make way for the youngsters?
This has become one of the biggest points of discussion ever since former head coach Ravi Shastri made a bold claim. In a conversation with ESPN Cricinfo, he said Virat and Rohit should keep themselves fresh for ODIs and Tests while the shortest format of the game should be youngster driven.
“Players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are proven, you know what they are all about. I would go in the direction of blooding the young players right now so that they get the opportunities and exposure, whilst you keep the likes of Virat and Rohit fresh for ODI cricket and Test cricket,” Shastri suggested.
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The IPL 2023 saw some exciting young talents banging on the selectors’ door as hard as they could. To name a few are Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, and even out-of-favour Shivam Dube. All of them have been consistent this season and can’t be overlooked anymore. Former India opener and commentator Aakash Chopra has also spoken along the same lines, saying that the veteran needs to take a back seat now.
Speaking in a select media interaction, Chopra said KL Rahul, Rohit, and Virat will find it difficult to adjust to the T20 template set by the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, and Shubman Gill.
“I won’t see his (Rahul’s) case to be in isolation in any way, to begin with. I feel the next generation of cricketers for this format is almost getting ready and the previous generation of players will find it increasingly difficult to be a part of the new template,” Aakash Chopra was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
“If India, as they said in the last T20 World Cup that they are looking for a new template to play T20 cricket in, continue to play in the same fashion, you will see a lot of the previous generation players not being part of the T20 scheme of things,” he added.
KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma have been criticized for their poor strike rate in the current season of the IPL. On the other hand, young batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are scoring their runs at a much better strike rate than these established stars. This has led to a debate among the fans about whether the veteran players should move on from T20Is and focus on the other two formats.
“This is an ODI World Cup year so anyway India will be playing fewer T20I games in the remaining year, but whatever matches they play, I don’t think you will see Kohli, Rohit or Rahul play. You don’t even know when Rahul will actually be available. That is why I’m saying, things will change in the next 90 days added.
“Rinku has a first-class average of 60 while Yashasvi has scored over 1000 runs in his short domestic career so far. So they have been performing in other formats as well it is just that the world tends to focus more on a player when it happens in the IPL,” Chopra
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