Age is catching up with Rohit Sharma.
Once an automatic pick in India’s ODI squad, the former captain may have to prove his form and fitness to ensure he remains in the selection committee’s radar for the next world cup, says Saba Karim.
Recently, Rohit, 39, was part of the IPL 2026 where he represented Mumbai Indians but missed as many as five matches owing to a hamstring issue. And it’s the same fitness concern that has now put his participation in the upcoming three-match ODI series against Afghanistan in doubt.
“I think Rohit has to do a lot of hard work. He has to work on his fitness levels and on his batting performance,” Karim told news agency PTI.
On the other hand, Karim, a former selector himself, says that Virat Kohli has done more than
enough to remain in India’s world cup plan.
“I think selectors will be keenly watching Rohit’s performance for the next six months to decide whether he can be part of the equation or not. (But) for Virat Kohli, I am sure that they are completely convinced that he will be a part of the 2027 World Cup set-up,” he said.
The 37-year-old Kohli played a starring role with the bat in helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru defend their IPL title last month. He scored nearly 700 runs and was a livewire on the field.
“… because through his (Kohli) performances and fitness level, (and) through his hunger for runs, he has shown all that so I don’t think Virat at this stage needs to prove anything to the selectors. Rohit, however, will have to do a lot of heavy lifting if he wants to get back in the selector’s’ World Cup planning,” Karim said.
Additionally, Kohli has managed to keep up with the times by vastly improving his scoring rate. He scored at a strike-rate of 165.84 – the best he has managed in a singled edition of his IPL career so far.
“If you look at Virat Kohli’s strike rate over the past two-three seasons in T20 cricket, (it) has gone up because he has realised that (for him) to be meaningful in T20 cricket, he has to work very hard on his strike rate,” Karim noted.
“If you notice, this season’s IPL strike rate, compared to last season, has gone up about 10 to 15. Now his strike rate is between 170 and 180. Last year, it was only 140-150. He’s such an individual who keeps working on his strength all the time,” he added.
Kohli, Karim says, has shown he is one of the greatest all-format batters to have played the game.
“Whatever Virat has achieved in Test cricket, in one-day cricket, and in T20 cricket now, one can always say that arguably, he is one of the best multi-format players that we have seen so far,” Karim said.
