For most of their India careers, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have played alongside each other. They have witnessed each other’s growth and steadily established their stature as all-time greats. Both went on to captain India across all three formats, with Rohit succeeding Kohli in the roles.
Interestingly, their Test and T20I retirements came at the same time. Now, in the final phase of their international careers, the duo is aiming for one last hurrah, with winning the 2027 ODI World Cup serving as the ultimate goal.
While there is uncertainty over their ODI futures, especially after recent reports claimed that the selection committee may have told Rohit they are moving on, the pair continues to enjoy batting together and piling on the runs.
They joined forces recently during the third and final ODI of a three-match series against England at Lord’s, stitching together a century stand – the 21st occasion on which they had done so together – to revive India’s flickering hopes of chasing down a mammoth target of 388. The effort may have come in a losing cause, but Rohit had ‘fun’ batting alongside his long-time teammate.
“We (him and Kohli) played our entire career together, so it was nice to have him in the middle, we have had so many partnerships. It’s fun batting together as we understand each other so much, bouncing off ideas,” Rohit told BCCI.
Rohit scored 138 and became the first Indian batter to hit an ODI century at Lord’s, while Kohli made a brisk 60-ball 74.
The 39-year-old Rohit continued his love affair with England, hitting his eighth ODI century in the country.
Overall, he has scored 1603 runs in 30 innings in England while averaging 64.12.
“I love playing in England. The atmosphere, the grounds, the pitches, when you turn up to play any format over here, it challenges you in different ways. And that’s what you want as a cricketer. To be challenged in every way possible. I enjoyed out there in the middle,” he said.
India lost the series 1-2, with their bowlers facing the heat.
Rohit defended the bowling attack, citing their inexperience.
“Again with bowling, you got to understand that these guys haven’t played a lot of ODIs and you got give them time. We can learn from this game, take things in our stride and when we again come across situation like this, we try and better ourselves. Disappointed with the result, we couldn’t finish off the game, we have to move on,” he said.
