IPL 2023: End of the road for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli in T20 internationals?

Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri gives his verdict on Rohit and Kohli's future in T20 internationals

Rituraj Borkakoty

Published: Tue 16 May 2023, 1:48 AM

Having been in the hot seat for more than five years, Ravi Shastri knows the time is ripe for a change in India's T20 squad.

With Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma struggling for form and Virat Kohli battling to regain the fluency which once made him a formidable T20 player, the Indian think tank, according to Shastri, should go for fresh blood.

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The former India coach wants the team management to groom young players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jitesh Sharma and Tilak Varma, stars of the ongoing IPL, for next year's T20 World Cup.

"First T20 series that comes up, play these guys (the youngsters), expose these guys. They (the selectors) should start blooding them right now," Shastri told ESPNcricinfo.

Kohli and Rohit, both in their mid 30s, should only concentrate on Test cricket and one-dayers.

"Players like Rohit, Virat Kohli, they are proven, you know what they are all about," the former Indian captain said.

"I would go in that (good performers in the IPL) direction so that they get the opportunities, they get the exposure, whilst you keep the Virats and the Rohits fresh for one-day cricket and Test cricket.

"Your focus there with that kind of experience should move to Test cricket, red-ball cricket for the future World Test Championship, and they stay fresh so that there is not too much of cricket where there is an overkill."

But the two superstars of Indian batting seem to be keen on continuing in all three formats of the game for India.

The selectors, though, haven't picked any of them after India's humiliating defeat to eventual champion England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal.

Hardik Pandya, who has been leading the Indian T20 team in Rohit's absence, is expected to be named full-time captain in the shortest format of the game.

"The next two World Cups (after the 2023 ODI World Cup) are T20 cricket. He (Hardik) is already (standby) captain of India (in T20Is), so he will continue unless he is not fit," Shastri had earlier said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.

"I think they (the selectors) will look into a new direction. There's a lot of talent among the youth at the moment. You might have a pretty much new team; there will be some new faces if not a new team."

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