Age will not be a factor in deciding whether former India captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will feature in the 2027 World Cup.
Age will not be a factor in deciding whether former India captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will feature in the 2027 World Cup. That was the message BCCI president Mithun Manhas conveyed to the two Indian greats, whose places in the team have been the subject of debate over the past couple of years. Manhas, who took charge of the BCCI in September last year, said the two veterans will continue to play as long as they remain fit and perform at the highest level.
“From my perspective, fitness and performance should be the criteria for selection, definitely not age. If someone is fit to play, performing well and winning games for the country, that should be the only criterion we focus on,” Manhas told Sportstar.
Kohli has been in tremendous form in ODIs, scoring 307 runs in his last five innings at an average of 76.75, including an unbeaten 139 against the West Indies last month.
During the same period, Rohit has taken his form up a notch, smashing two centuries, including a 138 against England earlier this month. His last five ODI innings have yielded 389 runs at an average of 77.80.
Manhas also highlighted how the presence of Virat and Rohit could help young captain Shubman Gill further develop his leadership skills.
“Shubman has been the captain of Gujarat Titans for two or three years now, apart from leading India. I think that experience will come in handy when he begins his World Cup campaign. Having Virat, Hardik (Pandya) and Rohit in the side will definitely help him. Then there are the likes of (Jasprit) Bumrah, who could take charge as the bowling captain, while someone else could lead the fielding unit. So, it is all about distributing the workload. It will be interesting to see how things unfold. But Shubman is a level-headed guy, and I think having the seniors around him will be an advantage,” he added.