Legendary Brian Lara has backed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the 2024 T20 World Cup, stating that you can’t replace experience. The experienced duo last played for India in the 2022 T20 World Cup but since then they haven’t played in the shortest format of the game for the national team.
Rohit and Virat have all the experience under their belt and they would definitely make a difference to the T20I team. While Kohli has scored 4008 runs in 115 T20I matches at an average of 52.74, Rohit has amassed 3853 runs in 148 matches at an average of 30.82.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were brilliant in the recently concluded World Cup 2023. Rohit scored 597 runs in 11 matches of the World Cup 2023 at an average of 54.27 and a blistering strike rate of 125.95. The talisman scored three fifties and one century in the ODI showpiece.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli finished the tournament as the highest run-getter with 765 runs in 11 matches at an average of 95.62 and a strike rate of 90.32. Ergo, he was awarded Player of the Tournament for his consistent performances.
“I think whichever team India picks, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. But you can’t replace experience. What Virat and Rohit bring is a lot of experience. They know the conditions in the Caribbean. They have played there,” Brian Lara said while talking to ANI.
“I wouldn’t say that they should dictate their future but I think the sort of players, the legends that they are in the game, I am almost sure there will be a lot of respect in finding out what they want to do, how far they want to push it and make the decision then,” the former West Indies captain told the news agency.
Meanwhile, India was dominant right throughout the ODI World Cup but could not bring their best in the all-important final. The former swashbuckling WI batter added India played their best cricket in the ODI showpiece.
“I won’t say they are struggling. They played their best cricket in the World Cup. I think what we experience is how powerful what we perceive to be failure is – which is the Australians losing a couple of matches, understanding where they had to play, and where they have to improve,” he said.
Australia won the final by six wickets after keeping India to a sub-par score of 240 runs.
