Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made a bombshell remark, saying dropping Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma is “impossible”, and there’s no one who can touch the senior two.
Ever since the two stalwarts retired from Tests, there has been intense speculation about their future, and constant questions have been raised about their potential place in the playing XI for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Ahead of the third and final ODI against England, which India eventually lost by 27 runs, questions were being raised over Rohit, with some reports claiming that the Hitman might play his last game for the Men in Blue. However, the former India captain answered his critics in the best way possible, playing a knock of 138. Even Virat got among the runs as he returned with a knock of 74.
After the solid knock, even Rohit addressed the “outside noise,” saying he’s not concerned with what people are saying as his job remains to do well for the team. And now Ashwin has said that no one can touch the senior two, and he also rubbished reports of there being no pressure on Rohit, saying there could be no smoke without a fire.
“They cannot touch both Virat and Rohit if they want to play. Why’s that? They have the credentials. They have scored runs. They are both batters, and they cannot touch them. If they touch them, if you look at the news of Rohit’s potential retirement, it was not outside noise. If there’s no fire, there would be no smoke,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’.
“There was fire, but Rohit scored runs, and he has shown how it’s done. Rohit has no doubt about playing in the World Cup. They cannot touch both Rohit and Virat because they are batters. They have an army and a battalion. People come to watch them. If you show them the door, it will break the roof down,” he added.
‘Bowlers deserve more’
It is worth mentioning that the BCCI declined the reports of Rohit playing his last game at Lord’s, but one knows that the pressure on the senior batter was immense considering his previous two outings and how the selectors want to give Yashasvi Jaiswal a chance in the playing XI.
However, Ashwin sympathised with the likes of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying there is no outrage when senior bowlers warm the bench.
“But when you don’t pick Siraj, Shami or Bhuvneshwar, only 10 people will ask about them. A maximum of 1000 people will ask. Let’s consider 10,000 people ask about them. But there would be no noise. If there comes a day when people raise their voice for the bowlers, then dropping them would also become difficult,” said Ashwin.
“You also know dropping Virat and Rohit is impossible. But the same does not apply to the bowlers,” he added.