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Cricket Players‘If Rohit, Kohli want to play ODI World Cup, they can’t keep taking breaks': Gautam Gambhir wants India to build 'core'
Gautam Gambhir believes the frequent breaks taken by top cricketers like captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have hurt India's chances as they have not been able to form a core team. The former left-hander urged the likes of Rohit and Kohli not to take a rest unless it's absolutely necessary before the ODI World Cup next year at home.
India have not had a settled T20I or ODI XI in the last couple of years. The pool of talent, injuries to key players and workload management of experienced cricketers have played a major role in it. But that has not yielded the ideal results for India. They have not managed to win any multi-nation tournament in any format for close to five years now. Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes the frequent breaks taken by top cricketers like captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have hurt India's chances as they have not been able to form a core team.
The former left-hander urged the likes of Rohit and Kohli not to take a rest unless it's absolutely necessary before the ODI World Cup next year at home.
"We need to identify the core, we've chopped and changed too much, we've never had a settled unit. More importantly, you can't keep taking breaks. The World is around the corner, and if you wanna play in the World Cup, you need to be there, be it Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, they need to play consistent cricket. They can't keep taking breaks when it's a World Cup year and suddenly by the time the World Cup is around the corner, you'll realise you still don't have a core. It will never work and that is what happened in the last two World Cups," he said on Star Sports.
Rohit, Kohli and KL Rahul were not named in India's T20I squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka. While it is understood that captain Rohit needs time to heal his injured thumb, it was not clear why Rahul and Kohli were not selected for the T20Is. The trio, however, were included in the India squad for the three ODIs set to begin on January 10. Hardik Pandya was named as captain of the T20I side. He was also elevated as the vice-captain in ODIs.
"Promoting Hardik as vice-captain is not a bad idea but we will have to wait and watch once Rohit Sharma comes back into the T20 side whether Hardik will still captain or not because judging Rohit Sharma by just one ICC tournament is not the right parameter. KL Rahul might find it difficult to get into the XI," Gambhir said.
When asked whether KL Rahul and Kohli's future in T20I is in danger, Gambhir said they will find it difficult to keep the youngsters, who are performing in their place, away from the XI for much longer.
"It's a catch-22 situation whether you want to go with these youngsters and completely build a new T20 side, which won't be a bad option anyway. If you want to continue with KL Rahul, you will have to make him bat in the top order, who would you replace him with? If you wanna play Virat Kohli then he has to bat at No.3. But if the youngsters who have been picked, if they do well, it's going to be very unfortunate (for them) to miss out on the big event," he said.
