Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma Picked Wrong Format to Retire: Former India Cricketer
Aakash Chopra says Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should have quit ODIs, not Tests, amid talk of their possible ODI retirement.
Media reports say Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli may soon retire from ODIs. But former India cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that if they had to step away from one format, ODIs should have been the one, not Tests.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “The truth is that they have said goodbye to the wrong format. They had left T20Is after winning the T20 World Cup, but the story might have been different had they continued to play Tests and said goodbye to ODIs. India played only six ODIs in 12 months before the Champions Trophy.”
Chopra explained that with ODIs being rare, players struggle to maintain form, fitness, and rhythm. He pointed out that even with only six Tests in a year, that means 30 days of cricket. But six ODIs take only six days, and the gap between series can be more than three months.
“A three-match series gets over in seven to eight days. Then the next one would be after three months. Gaps are just incredibly huge,” he said.
He noted that once you retire from Tests, and with ODIs not played often, you are left with only the IPL as regular high-intensity cricket.
“So just two months of IPL, where you play 14 to 16 innings, and then only three ODIs after six months, and then three after another three months. I think it is very, very difficult,” Chopra observed.
Both Rohit and Virat remain giants of ODI cricket. Virat has 14,181 runs in 302 matches at an average of 57.88 with 51 hundreds. Rohit has 11,168 runs in 272 matches at an average of 48.76 with 32 hundreds. They were key in the recent Champions Trophy, with Virat scoring 218 runs at 54.50 and Rohit making 180 runs at 36.00, including 76 in the final.
Since 2023, Virat has scored 1,710 runs in 37 ODIs at an average of 61.07 and a strike rate over 95, with seven hundreds. Rohit has made 1,714 runs in 38 games at 48.97 and a strike rate of 117.24, with three hundreds.
India’s next ODIs will be against Australia in October, South Africa in November–December, New Zealand in January, and England in July. Their performances in these series could decide whether they play the 2027 World Cup or bow out sooner.
