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'Dimaag laga rahe ho...': Rohit Sharma's tongue-in-cheek response to query on T20I return in Afghanistan series
The last time Rohit, and Kohli, played in a T20I game was in the World Cup semifinal knock out in 2022 against England in Australia.
With the win in Cape Town on Thursday, a match which completed in just five sessions, making it the shortest-ever game in Test history, India ended their tour of South Africa. Team India won't be in action for the next five days, but the selectors are slated to face a busy weekend with the committee of three, headed by Ajit Agarkar, all set to pick the T20I squad for the impending home series against Afghanistan, which will be the Men in Blue's final assignment in the format before the T20 World Cup in June. But the biggest question remains whether Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will make their return in the format next week. The Indian captain was directly asked the question after the win in Newlands, and he came up with a tongue-in-cheek response.
The last time Rohit, and Kohli, played in a T20I game was in the World Cup semifinal knock out in 2022 against England in Australia. With the following year being an ODI World Cup year, the veterans concentrated in the 50-over format, but while they were expected to return after the end of the tournament in November, the two extended their period of break from the T20Is.
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India, meanwhile, beat Australia 4-1 in a five-match T20I series at home after the ODI World Cup, before holding hosts South Africa to a 1-1 draw in a three-match contest in December. The team is now set to face Afghanistan in a three-match series between January 11 and 17 at home, which will be India's last contest in the format before they head to the ICC event in June in West Indies and the USA.
A PTI report earlier this week did confirm that both Rohit and Kohli are keen to participate in the 2024 T20 World Cup but it also mentioned that there was no clarity over their return to the format for the T20I series against Afghanistan.
On Friday, after India's seven-wicket win in the second Test against South Africa, a reported asked Rohit on his stance for the Afghanistan series and the India skipper smirked at the query in the post-match presser before saying: "Dimaag laga rahe ho aap (You are using you brain)...let's concentrate on Cape Town now".
The selectors are expected to announce the squad for the Afghanistan contest over the next few days, but both Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Ydaav, down with their respective injuries, are slated to miss the event.
