Former Indian World Cup Winner Sunil Gavaskar feels that veteran Indian batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will get the opportunity to put India’s World Cup loss behind them to come and perform for the team in the two-match test series against South Africa. In away circumstances, the Men in Blue have yet to win a test series against the Proteas.
After losing to Australia in the World Cup 2023 final, India skipper Rohit Sharma and batting maestro Virat Kohli have taken a break from cricket after a heartbreaking loss in the marquee final. The senior Indian players did not participate in the T20I series against Australia and then made themselves unavailable for the white-ball series against South Africa.
Speaking ahead of the first T20I in Durban, Sunil Gavaskar feels that the Test series against South Africa will be an excellent opportunity for the experienced Indian batter to make up for the World Cup setback and believes that the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma will have a huge role to play for the team in the test series, setting it up for the middle order batters.
“Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were really at the peak of their powers in the last 6-8 months. Like Jacques Kallis said Rohit Sharma is going to be key for India in the Test series. Rohit Sharma will have a big role to play to set up the No. 3,4,5. Whatever happens, this is Rohit Sharma’s opportunity to make up for the World Cup final loss,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
While experienced players such as Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami are still expected to participate in the T20 World Cup next year, there are questions regarding whether Rohit and Kohli will be selected in the squad, considering their most recent game was against England in the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Virat Kohli have dominated the World Cup, scoring 765 runs in 11 innings, including three hundreds, and was voted tournament player of the year. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has inspired the Indian team to 10 straight victories in the tournament, alongside giving the side much-needed momentum at the start of the innings.
India are currently playing against South Africa in a away from home three-match T20I series beginning on Sunday. The series begins with a three-match T20 series followed by three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and concludes with two Test matches in South Africa.