NEW DELHI: Former India opener Aakash Chopra hopes that the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy is not the last Test series for India stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma asserted that no one knows what’s been going in the minds of the two veterans in recent times.
Rohit, 37, hasn’t had a great year in Tests for India and so does Kohli, who did score a hundred in Perth but averages a lowly 26.64 in 9 matches in 2024.
Chopra feels that the future of Kohli and Rohit will depend a lot on how they perform in the ongoing series Down Under and where India stands in the WTC Final race after the tour.
Currently, South Africa, Australia and India are in a battle to secure the two WTC final spots, which takes place in June 2025.
“Let’s not say anything as of now. There are matches left. Let’s allow them to finish this series. I hope they do well and the Indian team does well, and after that, they will play in the Champions Trophy if it’s in the ODI format. They won’t play if it’s in the T20I format.
“Then it might depend on the WTC qualification how you want to play the next cycle. The next cycle will start in England, and there you might want to ask in which direction you want to go. Do you want to go with the same set of players? Do we want to press the reboot button? Those are the questions you ask only after the series is over. Hopefully, it’s not the last series, but nobody knows,” Chopra said in response to a query on his YouTube channel.
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Since winning the T20 World Cup earlier this year, both Kohli and Rohit have struggled for runs in the longest format.
Under Rohit, India were recently handed an unprecedented series whitewash at home by New Zealand.
In the 3-0 series defeat by the Kiwis, both Rohit and Kohli had a poor run with the bat.
This year, while Kohli has 373 runs in 9 matches, Rohit has 597 runs in 13 matches at an average of 27.13.