India head coach Gautam Gambhir was evasive on Tuesday regarding the future of the star duo, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, stating that “it is important to stay in the present” and that the 2027 ODI World Cup is still more than two years away.
The national selectors have already pushed the ODI cricket transition button with Shubman Gill’s appointment as captain, and many are concerned about the future of the aging mainstays, who will be 39 (Kohli) and 40 (Rohit) in 2027, respectively.
“The 50-over World Cup is still two and a half years away. It is very important to stay in the present. Obviously they are quality players. They are coming back. Their experience is going to be valuable in Australia.
“Hopefully those two guys can have a successful tour, and more importantly, as a team we can have a successful series,” Gambhir said when asked about the future of the two former skippers.
The way the two perform in the nine ODIs over the next few months—three against Australia, three against South Africa, and three against New Zealand—is thought to determine a lot.
Under Gambhir’s guidance, the Indian squad has experienced change in every format during the last 12 months. Gambhir gave his checklist in response to a question about the qualities he looks for in a player who wants to be a member of the national squad.
“First and foremost, you look at talent. Then you look at the work ethic. You look at the characters in that dressing room, especially in red-ball cricket.
“You look at what they bring on the table, apart from the amount of runs and wickets they do, I think how hungry they are. And if you’ve got all those attributes, you will definitely have a successful Test career.”
Gambhir believes that international cricket is a “insecure environment” since there is so much competition for slots.
“For me, giving them a longer run is very, very important because as we all know that international cricket is a very insecure environment because only 15 players can go on to represent the country and there are so many people waiting for their opportunity.
“So make sure first you pick the right characters and then if you see that, try and give them a longer run so that they themselves should be content and happy that they’ve got a longer run rather than just chopping and changing as well.”
Personally, Gambhir dislikes the term “dropping” and gets upset when a deserving player is left off the national squad.
“Sometimes it’s difficult as a head coach and a team management where you will have to sometimes leave out players. I don’t like using this word, dropping players because you don’t drop players, you only select players. When a player is left out, the least a coach can do is be empathetic and not ruthless.”
According to Gambhir, the Test team that went to England had an excellent work ethic and met all of the requirements.
“So for me, I think that is something which is exceptionally important and these guys have done their bit, especially on the England tour, the kind of work ethic they had shown. For me, that was a huge tick.”
