Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were believed to have played the last of their international T20I matches for India when they left the field following the team's semi-final exit from the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. That was, until India named their T20I squad for January's home T20I series against Afghanistan and both stalwarts were included. While Virat Kohli played just 2 matches and scored 29 runs, Rohit Sharma followed up two ducks with a century in his three appearances, as India played the last of their T20I matches before this summer's T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.
Former India cricketer, and JioCinema & Sports18 expert Aakash Chopra though believes both players did enough to warrant a spot in the big-ticket event this June. Here are excerpts from his interview.
Rohit, Virat back for the Afghanistan T20I series. What do you make of this, from a T20 World Cup point of view. Do we see them playing this June as well then?
Rohit and Virat’s return in T20I colours signifies only one thing for me. I see them playing the T20 World Cup as well. There is immense pedigree. One is the highest T20I scorer in the world, the second is right behind him. I think a half decent will just boost everyone’s confidence. But then, irrespective of the IPL performance also, I feel both the players are heading to America and West Indies for the T20 World Cup in June.
World Cup 2023: Hardik Pandya got injured during India's group stage match against Bangladesh.
Image: PTI
Hardik Pandya is another man who has been so much in the news, even though he hasn’t played a ball since his injury in the ICC World Cup. Do you expect another surprising call in maybe naming him the World Cup captain if he’s fit or do you see India going with Rohit only?
That’s been the only concern with Hardik Pandya. The only question regarding him is his fitness. He has not played a single game in competitive cricket since that injury during the World Cup. I am assuming he will be fit and available for the IPL. But naming him as the captain, I think that is not happening. I think he will be picked in the squad for the World Cup, but only as a player.
Is it a healthy situation for a team to be in though? So much uncertainty just 6 months before another big World Cup, specially when now that ‘India haven’t won a World Cup in over a decade’ talk seems to keep getting louder?
Well, I’ll be honest, it doesn’t look ideal. Roles need to be defined clearly and all players who are going to perform those roles should have a fair run in their particular numbers, for them to cement their place. So yes, it is not an idea scenario. You want things to pan out a little differently but unfortunately they haven’t and we’re still relying on the IPL form. But role clarity is something that should have happened by now. Injuries also didn’t help.
Hardik and Surya’s injuries meant some players had to come in. There is debate about who will be the keeper of the side. Yashasvi and Rohit look like the two openers while Shubman and Ruturaj were front-runners for the slots a few months ago. So there is some amount of lack of clarity and it’s never a good thing.
The Afghanistan-India series is being broadcast in 11 languages on JioCinema. As someone who has been part of sports broadcast for years now, how do you think that improves the viewing experience?
It just showcases JioCinema's commitment, doesn't it? When we started with the previous IPL, we started with 12 new languages and even started with some new languages that took the world by storm. Even for the India vs Afghanistan series we presented in 11 languages. So the idea is quite clear. First, the commitment is quite clear, we will continue in the same fashion and present the game in the language and form they most like.
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