Is it the final dance for India's senior pros Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli together to push for a World title together for the Men in Blue? Many suggested so before the tournament and it seems to be that way as former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull too reckoned that both of them might not get another opportunity to lift the title and hence stayed with the side this time around in the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA. With five wins in six games, India haven't done any harm to their chances.
Ahead of the Australia-Afghanistan clash, which the latter won, in St Vincent, Simon Doull and Ian Smith, two cricketers-turned-commentators for New Zealand, picked India and Australia as the best teams for the T20 World Cup reckoned that for the Men in Blue, it will be crucial for them to get that tag of favourites from their back and actually going on to win the World Cup.
"For India, it's just going to be monkey off the back. The reason that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have stayed around is to make sure that they win a title for India, for their fans, for their loyal and faithful fans. This is their time because after this World Cup, they don't get another opportunity," Doull said on Sky Sports NZ.
"They don't get another 50-over or T20 opportunity, I don't think, those two players in particular. So they need to do it this time. It's just about shedding that tag of favourites and putting that performance on," Doull added. With Kohli and Rohit not playing the T20Is for more than a year since the T20 World Cup 2022, it seemed like the Indian team would hit the transition button from the 2024 tournament onwards but it wasn't the case.
And now that both of them are here, they would want to end that stint with silverware in their hands. Yes, Kohli might stay till the 2027 ODI World Cup, but it could be the last for Rohit as far as the World Cups are concerned.
