Former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar believes that assessing Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s form and fitness may be essential. Rohit and Kohli were recently named to India’s 15-man ODI team for the three-match series.
Dilip Vengsarkar believes that judging the form and fitness of players who only play in one format will be difficult, especially given the significant gap between their last game and the one in which they will participate.
“Rohit and Virat have been great players over the years, but if you are playing just one format of the game, I believe the selectors need to take a call on this. I feel you cannot know or judge the form and fitness of such players because they’ve had a long layoff after the last game they have played. It’s very difficult to assess their form and fitness,” stated Vengsarkar, as quoted by Mid-day.
The former Indian captain also believes the duo was chosen primarily because of their outstanding performance in the format.
“Rohit and Virat have possibly been picked because of their great records. They have been great players and have done yeomen service to Indian cricket, having won many matches in all formats of the game. But since they have not been playing Test match cricket as well as T20Is, and are playing only one format, one-day matches, which is not very often played during the season, it’s very difficult to gauge their form and fitness.”
Dilip Vengsarkar
India will play three one-day internationals in Australia, followed by five twenty-over matches. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli last wore Indian colours in March, at the 2025 Champions Trophy final. They have already announced their withdrawal from T20Is (after the T20 World Cup 2024) and Tests (before to the England Series).
