Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Indian cricket fans have the best memories of Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. It was on this ground that the Indian team ended its 28-year drought by lifting the World Cup on 2 April 2011. But who would have thought that 13 years and 7 months after winning the World Cup title, Team India would have to see its worst time on this very ground. When the losing streak that started from Bengaluru and ended in Mumbai via Pune, no one could believe it for a moment. The manner in which New Zealand made a 3-0 clean sweep of Team India in the Test series made it clear that now the impenetrable fort of the Indian team has been razed to the ground.
In the absence of a star batsman like Kane Williamson, New Zealand did what no other team could do in the last 24 years. New Zealand became the first team since 2000 to whitewash the Indian team in Test cricket at home. From this it can be estimated what a bad phase the Indian team is going through. This defeat has indicated the end of not only Team India but also the dominance of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Rohit and Kohli are in bad condition at home
Except Rishabh Pant, all the Indian batsmen performed very poorly against New Zealand. Pant was the only Indian batsman who crossed the 200-run mark in 6 innings of 3 matches. But you will be surprised to know that captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are among the most dangerous batsmen in the world, could not even touch the figure of 100 runs. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja scored more runs than these two batsmen. Yashasvi Jaiswal alone scored more runs than even Kohli and Rohit together could not score. In this series, those who had the responsibility of scoring runs became a burden on the team. And the result is in front of all of us.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
For some time now, BCCI has been pushing its players to play domestic cricket. Before the Test series against New Zealand, Virat and Rohit were also asked to play domestic cricket but to no avail. This is the reason why both the players were seen struggling against New Zealand’s fast bowling in the first Test match and then against the spin attack in the last two matches.
It is not very old. Before the series against New Zealand, Team India faced Bangladesh in the month of September. Looking at the manner in which the Indian team had swept Bangladesh in this series, the coming era was being predicted for the Indian cricket team, but in the very next series, the team’s secrets were exposed. The surprising thing was that Rohit and Virat were seen struggling even against a weak Test team like Bangladesh. While Virat Kohli could not go beyond 99 runs in 4 innings, Rohit could not reach even close to 50 runs in total in both the Test matches. The result of failure of Virat and Rohit in 2 consecutive series is in front of all of us, but the question once again arises whether BCCI and team management will learn some lesson from this defeat or just because of being big names, Rohit and Virat will remain like this. Will keep carrying.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Till last month, it seemed that the Indian team would easily get the ticket for the final of the World Test Championship i.e. WTC. New Zealand will come to India and will return home after losing the series. But the tables were turned at home. 3 Test matches changed the entire equation of WTC. The Indian team lost its number-1 crown and the path to reach the final became very difficult. Now Team India will have to get the ticket for the final from the Kangaroo team on Australian soil, which does not seem easy at all considering the form of Kohli and Virat. Many cricket experts are not shying away from considering the Border-Gavaskar series to be played in Australia from November 22 as the last Test series of Rohit and Virat. Although nothing can be said yet, it is believed that BCCI can give some big hint regarding the future of Rohit and Virat after the Australia tour.
Virat Kohli
Actually, both the star cricketers have crossed the age of 35 and it is not hidden from anyone that increasing age also affects the performance. This has happened with veteran cricketers in the past as well. Lord of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar has also admitted that after a certain age the body slows down and the reflexes also become slow. Rohit Sharma has crossed 37 this month and Virat Kohli has turned 36 this month. Both the cricketers have reached that stage of age where most cricketers start planning for retirement. In such a situation, the question arises whether Virat and Rohit will start planning for retirement as soon as possible or BCCI will be forced to take drastic steps.
There is no doubt that it will be easy for anyone to replace Rohit and Virat in Team India. However, steps in this direction will have to be taken as soon as possible so that a strong Indian team can be prepared in the coming years. If we talk about the contenders to replace Rohit and Virat, the names of Sai Sudarshan, Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar are leading in the race. All three players have managed to impress with their domestic cricket bats.
Rohit Sharma
Sai Sudarshan and Devdutt Padikkal, who have proved their talent in IPL and domestic cricket, are currently on Australia tour with India-A team. Both the batsmen have a huge hunger for runs, the example of which we have seen in the first unofficial test match against Australia. In the second innings of this match, big innings came from the bats of Sudarshan and Padikkal. While Sai Sudarshan scored a brilliant century, Devdutt Padikkal played an inning of 88 runs. Even though this inning of theirs could not save the team from defeat, they proved that both of these left-handed batsmen have the skill and hunger for runs required in the longer format of cricket.
Sai Sudarshan, Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar
Many qualities of Virat and Rohit also match the game of both the batsmen. Rajat Patidar has also scored more than 4500 runs in first class cricket at an average of 43. It is clear from this that many players are in line to take over the legacy of Virat and Rohit, but the wait is that after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, what and when BCCI will decide on the future of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Is. However, it seems too far-fetched to say anything right now.
