The thing about the sporting public's collective memory is that it tends to be very short. Out of sight becomes out of mind quickly.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma last played together for India in Dubai in the first week of March. Both legends of Indian cricket played a crucial role in helping the team lift their second ICC trophy inside 12 months – the 50-over Champions Trophy.
Both were the flavour of the month and expected to be allowed to decide how they wanted the last chapters of their outstanding careers to play out.
But India had other plans. Both were forced out of the Test setup, Shubman Gill was fast-tracked as the next main leader and both Kohli and Rohit were consigned to a format played the least in international cricket – one-dayers.
Even those walls are closing in. Rohit lost his beloved ODI captaincy to Gill, ending the last remaining hope he had of avenging the heart-breaking defeat in the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Well, as captain at least.
Both Kohli and Rohit have been included in the ODI squad for the limited-overs tour of Australia, which begins on Sunday with the first one-dayer in Perth.
But there is no clarity about what’s in store after that. India coach Gautam Gambhir, who is seen as the driving force behind the wholesale changes in Indian cricket’s setup, refused to make any statements about the future of the two stars vis-à-vis the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Both veterans would be around 40 years of age by that time, which was always going to work against them, even with Kohli’s exemplary health regimen and Rohit’s extreme fitness transformation over the summer.
"Look, the 50-over World Cup is still two-and-a-half years away, and I think it is very important to stay in the present," Gambhir said in Delhi.
"Obviously, they are quality players, they are coming back, their experience is going to be a handful in Australia as well. Hopefully, those two guys will have a successful tour, and more importantly, as a team we will have a successful series."
The soundbites coming from India's cricket establishment is not particularly encouraging for the two stalwarts. India’s young Test team performed admirably in England, drawing the Test series 2-2 under Gill and in the absence of Kohli and Rohit. Even Jasprit Bumrah’s absence was not felt in the Tests he missed in England; in fact India won the two he was absent for.
The T20 Asia Cup triumph in Dubai has reinforced the belief that India have more than enough talent to replace every single member of the playing XI.
Maybe both Rohit and Kohli would like to prove a point or two in Australia. But do they need to?
Kohli has lifted every major trophy in international cricket, played the match-winning innings in the 2024 T20 World Cup final. He also got his hands on the IPL trophy with Royal Challengers Bengaluru after nearly two decades of trying this summer.
But Kohli does not reside in India anymore, having set up a new life in London with his family. His lack of active cricket in India is a factor.
Rohit, meanwhile, has a record that will remain unmatched in cricket – three successive ICC tournaments as captain with just one defeat. That one loss – to Australia in the 2023 Ahmedabad final – will hurt him and Indian cricket for a long time, but one can’t overlook the heights India’s white-ball cricket reached during Rohit’s reign.
Can he and Kohli possibly do anything more to raise the bar? Realistically speaking, no. Those who matter in Indian cricket don’t seem desperate to have them in the team at all costs.
Which means that the upcoming ODI series in Australia might be the last time both Kohli and Rohit play for India together. Especially is their form wavers in the three matches.
If they still decide to fight it out, the current dispensation might not think twice before closing the chapter on them through a short paragraph somewhere down their next press release.
