India men’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar has confirmed that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are ‘not on trial’ in the upcoming ODI series against Australia, saying the three games won’t determine their chances for the 2027 World Cup. He said it would be ‘silly’ to judge their chances for the marquee tournament on a game or series basis because their records are so exceptional, but hinted that they are not irreplaceable either.
Kohli and Rohit now only play ODIs, which has meant they have missed almost half a year of international cricket in the lead-up to the series in Australia, which begins on Sunday. Then, Rohit would be past 40 and Kohli past 39 when the time comes for India to travel to the World Cup in Southern Africa. Although some, like Imran Khan, have performed and won it at that age, the sport is more physically intense than it has ever been.
“They are part of the squad for Australia,” Agarkar told NDTV. “They have been incredible players for a long time. It’s not a forum to keep harping on individuals. You want to focus on the team and what the team wants to achieve. And in two years time, we don’t know what the situation is going to be. So, why just them two? It could be some other younger players,” he added, hinting that the team has replacements in consideration, too.
When asked about the probability of Kohli and Rohit specifically making it to the 2027 World Cup, and whether every series from now on will have a role in that decision, Agakar offered a pragmatic voice.
“That’ll be a bit silly, isn’t it? When one averages over 50 (Kohli, 57.9) and one is close to 50 (Rohit, 48.8), you are not going to put them on trial for every game. 2027 is a long way away, they play only one format, are playing after the Champions Trophy final on the 9th of March. They are playing 19th of October… so once they start playing, then you assess as you go forward. They are not on trial. They have achieved all they had to achieve, not just in terms of trophies but runs. It’s not that if both of them don’t get runs this series, that’ll be the reason they won’t be there, or if they get three hundreds, that’ll be the reason they play 2027. It’s still a long way away. We’ll see how it all shapes up. We have some ideas, and as we go along, we’ll have a better idea of how the team is progressing,” Agakarkar said.
