Legendary Indian cricket team batter Krishnamachari Srikkanth believes that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be part of the T20 World Cup 2024 squad if they are available for selection. The two veteran cricketers have not played T20I cricket for quite some time and ahead of the T20I series against Afghanistan, a lot of questions have been asked about their possible inclusion. However, Srikkanth said that both of them will be looking to win the World Cup title and they cannot be ignored for the competition.
"Virat Kohli is a certainty. He is in great form. Rohit Sharma, maybe, is confident because of how he scored in the World Cup. He will regroup and try and do well in the IPL. If Rohit Sharma says I am available, you can't say you will drop him," Srikkanth said in his YouTube show.
"At the end of the day, Rohit Sharma is also hurt that he has lost a World Cup. He would like to go out with a World Cup in his hand at least. He was there in the 2007 World Cup. He would want to do something similar, win a World Cup, and go out.
"Virat Kohli would definitely want to win a T20 World Cup. Moreover, last year only the T20 World Cup took place, 13 months back. Virat Kohli was in extraordinary form," Srikkanth added.
Meanwhile, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra said that he feels that Team India will field an almost identical team to that of the 2022 edition of the tournament for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA this year, starting from June onwards, with Rohit Sharma as the captain.
ICC announced the schedule for the competition on Friday. A new chapter will unfold in one of the oldest rivalries in cricket history as India will square off against Pakistan on June 9 in New York.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash said that he feels Rohit will be doing the captaincy in the tournament since Hardik Pandya's fitness is making it difficult for the all-rounder to play currently.
"Hardik will probably not be the captain because there is an issue regarding fitness. You are not playing currently. You twisted your ankle in the World Cup. You are not playing the Afghanistan series and you don't play Tests in any case, so you will straightaway play the IPL. It is going against him," said Aakash.
"I feel Rohit Sharma will be doing T20I captaincy and will also be the captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup. If you had asked this question after the 2022 T20 World Cup, it was almost certain he would not be the captain, considering the way the team performed as we were scoring 60 runs in the first 10 overs," he added.
(With ANI inputs)