Former Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri reckons big players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli might decide to retire from one format of the game. Both of these two big players haven’t yet played a single T20I game for India after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2022, raising doubts about their T20I careers.
With so much cricket played all along the year, Shastri feels these two could decide to hang their boots from one format. Both Rohit and Virat have been playing consistently across the three formats and have also delivered the goods.
But at the same time, it is important for the team’s think tank to manage their workload. Shastri feels not only Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma but a lot of other players could decide to call it a day from one format because of the hectic schedule.
Earlier, England’s Test captain Ben Stokes decided to call curtains on his ODI career after admitting that playing three formats was no longer be sustainable for him.
“I think not just with Virat and Rohit. It will be the case with a lot of players. There’s too much cricket. The volume of cricket is so much. For all you know, India might be playing a Test series somewhere, but a T20 tournament might be going on somewhere else with an Indian team. Many times when I was a coach, we were in one country, and India was in another country playing Sri Lanka or someone proper. So it is going to happen. You will have to see what is important that year, and accordingly, get the players primarily focused in playing those games.”
“So, if there is a World Cup coming of 50-over cricket coming, emphasis must be on 50-over cricket. If the emphasis is on T20s, then decide who your nucleus of 15-18 players are,” said Shastri while talking to Sports Today.
After the conclusion of the three-match ODI series, players from all around the globe will take part in the Indian Premier League.
India will take on Australia in the third ODI at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday.