Former India captain Rohit Sharma may have played in his final ODI World Cup back in 2023. Rohit had led Team India to the final of the ODI World Cup 2023, where they lost to Australia at the Narendra Modi Staium in Ahmedabad. After that Rohit led India to T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy titles in 2024 and 2025 season.
However, the Mumbai Indians batter since then has retired from Test cricket as well as T20 cricket. Like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma is only active in ODI cricket, hoping to turn out for India in the ODI World Cup 2027 which is set to take place in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), don’t appear to have much faith in Rohit’s fitness and whether he will be able to last till ODI World Cup 2027, according to a report in TOI newspaper. The BCCI intends to keep a close eye on Rohit’s fitness and form in every series starting from the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan which begins in Dharamshala on June 13.
Rohit suffered from a hamstring injury in the middle of the IPL 2026 with Mumbai Indians, but failed to report at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru to recover. “Rohit didn’t report to the BCCI’s centre of excellence (CoE) for those three weeks. He has become lean but there are concerns about his body being able to take the load of high-performance sport. He has to field for 50 overs. ODI cricket doesn’t have the option of an Impact Player like IPL. Body takes time to heal when you are so close to turning 40,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by TOI.
The 39-year-old Indian opener has notched up 11577 runs in 282 matches in ODI cricket at an average of 48.84 with 33 hundreds and 61 fifties. Rohit has played in only 8 matches for MI in IPL 2026 season and scored 283 runs with 2 fifties at a strike-rate of 160.79.
The BCCI are keeping an eye on openers like Yashasvi Jaiswal to keep him as Rohit’s backup. “There aren’t many ODIs before the World Cup. As it is Jaiswal hasn’t got enough game time. Ishan has been picked so that he can double up as an opener. But if Rohit fails to make it to the World Cup and either Shubman Gill or Jaiswal gets injured, there needs to be another opener ready,” the source was quoted as saying by BCCI.
Virat Kohli, in comparison, has scored 542 runs in 13 matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru at a strike-rate of 164.74 with 1 century and 4 fifties. The BCCI no longer want to club Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma together looking at their fitness and form in IPL 2026.