After the loss in the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the focus of the Indian cricket team will now shift to T20Is as the preparations for the T20 World Cup 2024 begin. The first assignment will be a five-match T20I series against Australia starting on Thursday, November 23. Notably, since the semi-final loss of India against England in T20 World Cup 2022, star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have not featured in the T20I squad and have been rested once again for the upcoming T20I series against Australia.
However, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir wants both of them to continue playing T20Is. The former opener expressed his wish to see Rohit Sharma leading the team in the shortest format over Hardik Pandya, who’s been leading the team since the T20 World Cup 2022 loss. He further called Viraat Kohli an automatic choice in the team.
“They both need to get picked, both should be picked. More importantly, I want to see Rohit Sharma as captain in the T20 World Cup. Yes, Hardik has been captaining in T20Is but I would still want to see Rohit as captain in the World Cup. Don’t pick Rohit Sharma only as a batter,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.
“Rohit is a phenomenal leader, he has proved that with his leadership and batting in this ODI World Cup. If you are picking Rohit, which you should then he should be selected as a captain who can bat. And Virat also should be an automatic choice,” he added.
Kohli and Rohit are top two run scorers in T20Is
Notably, both Kohli and Rohit sit on the first and the second spot respectively in the list of leading run scorers in T20Is. Kohli has scored 4008 runs from 107 innings in the shortest format at an average of 52.73 and a strike rate of 137.96 with one hundred and 37 fifties to his name. He finished as the highest run scorer in two editions of the T20 World Cup (2014 and 2022).
On the other hand, Rohit has 3853 runs to his name from 140 innings at an average of 31.32 and a strike rate of 139.24 with 29 fifties and a world-record four hundred to his name. The Indian captain further holds the record for the joint-second fastest hundred in the format off just 35 balls.
The phenomenal numbers of the dynamic batting duo speak for themselves and the Indian team would desperately need their services in the upcoming World Cup to end their ten-year-long trophy drought.