The dust has not even settled on ODI cricket's biggest blockbuster of the ongoing calendar year and the two sides that faced each other in the finale of that blockbuster find themselves against each other again but in the shortest format of the sport.
The Men in Blue have a new leader for the series in the form of Suryakumar Yadav as Hardik Pandya is unavailable due to an ankle injury that he sustained against Bangladesh during the World Cup. The Indian team is devoid of some star players as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Burah, and Mohammed Shami are not a part of the squad for the series.
Notably, Virat and Rohit haven't played a single T20I game for India since India's loss to England in the semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia while playing at the Adelaide Oval. Hence, the T20I future of India's two most veteran batters is hazy.
Both players played a key role in helping India secure a final berth during the ODI World Cup as Virat finished as the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 765 runs in 11 games whereas Rohit led the troops from the front and was inspirational with his batting approach as well.
Despite adopting a very offensive style of play during the 50-over extravaganza, Rohit ended up as the second-leading run-getter with 597 runs behind Kohli. But now since the T20 World Cup 2024 is just a few months away, India might look to prepare for the event without Rohit and Virat as the winners of the inaugural edition of the tournament just have 11 games to gear up and there is not enough room for experimentation.
However, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has not given any clarity on Rohit and Virat's T20I future, the way they are grooming the youngsters in the format it seems unlikely that the duo will have a major role to play in the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the West Indies.
