India veteran R Ashwin believes Rohit Sharma could become a significant part of the Mumbai Indians coaching set-up after his retirement.
Rohit is retired from Tests and T20Is, but continues to play ODIs, with his sights set on the ODI World Cup 2027. Rohit is also part of the Mumbai Indians squad in the IPL; however, he didn’t have the best season recently in IPL 2026, fueling speculations that MI might not retain Rohit ahead of the IPL 2027. Rohit himself might decide to draw the curtains once he’s done with international cricket, and Ashwin believes he could be a great fit in the MI coaching set-up.
Ashwin, however, doesn’t feel the same about Virat Kohli.
“I don’t think Virat will be ready to become a coach immediately,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. “I think both have worked a lot. Maybe Rohit Sharma could come into the Mumbai Indians in some capacity. I don’t know about Virat, honestly-Virat will probably want to take a break, in my opinion.”
Ashwin highlighted Rohit’s tremendous record as captain for India and MI, and said that once he decides that he won’t play, MI should not waste time in roping him as part of the coaching set-up.
“If tomorrow Rohit decides ‘I won’t play,’ Mumbai Indians should immediately absorb him,” Ashwin said. “A captain who won five titles and led India to a World Cup-you won’t find such people. If he doesn’t want to be head coach because it’s a labour-intensive role, but after a one-two year break, he’ll be ready to take up a role. Like Rahul bhai took a break and then came back to work. So I think they should immediately absorb such cricketers and not let them go. And knowing the Mumbai Indians, they won’t let go of a player with Rohit Sharma’s thinking capacity,” he added.