Former India coach and legendary spinner Anil Kumble has said that it will not be easy for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to maintain the required fitness level in ODI cricket, especially after both of them have retired from Test and T20 Internationals. But at the same time Kumble also stressed that the achievements of these two legends should be celebrated in the remaining time of their careers.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from Test cricket in June 2025, 10 months after India’s T20 World Cup win. Now both these legends are only available for ODI international cricket. But there are many questions about their ODI future, and it is not clear how long they will continue to play in this format. The next big 50-over tournament is the 2027 World Cup, and both of them last played ODIs in the Champions Trophy in March 2025.
Both of them performed brilliantly in that tournament. Kohli top-scored in the semi-final against Australia, while Rohit scored 76 in the final against New Zealand to win the Player of the Match award. Still, uncertainty remains over their long-term commitment to playing ODIs.
Anil Kumble gave a big statement about Rohit and Virat’s ODI career
Anil Kumble said during an event in Mumbai on Monday,
“𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙊𝘿𝙄 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙭 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙.”
He further said,
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑰𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 2027 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 (𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝑫𝑰 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 2011) 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 2023 (𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑) 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚.”
Rohit Sharma has never won the ODI World Cup. In such a situation, he wants to give himself another chance, as he missed the trophy as vice-captain in 2019 and as captain in 2023.
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