Senior Indian batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are yet to answer on their white-ball futures. With both requesting a break from the board for the white ball leg against South Africa, now they just have 3 T20Is against Afghanistan ahead of them to play before the T20 WC. But the question is, can they play that series? With the second test against SA scheduled to finish on 7th Jan and the Afghanistan series set to be started from 11th Jan can they make it to playing 11 after the hectic travelling and will there be enough rest for them?
Are IPL performances enough to earn a WC spot?
The senior players who were rested for the T20I series against Australia are making a comeback in the South African Tour except for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Although the Indian board is confident that both will be available for selection for the World Cup and expressed that they are happy with Rohit Sharma as the Indian Captain, and he is likely to lead India, can they be ready to play in the T20 WC with only IPL being the only available match practice for both of them in t20s since that last T20 WC in Australia.
Is playing in IPL enough to get ready for such a mega event? My personal opinion is that, If they were in the scheme of things for the T20 WC 2024, they should’ve been picked for at least the T20I series of the South African Tour.
Contrast between the pitches in IPL and WC
Both Rohit and Kohli performed well in the IPL 2023 and will be looking to repeat that in the upcoming season but still, IPL is different from the ICC events. The IPL is known to produce good batting surfaces and the pitches in India generally are expected to deliver high-scoring encounters. But with the WC set to be played in the Caribbean where the spinners will have a say, will we see similar kinds of pitches in this IPL season? we will have to wait and see.
And Kohli’s record against spin during recent years should not be overlooked. Even Rohit Sharma had his problems at times batting against spin. People might feel Kohli played well against spin in the ODI WC where he got out only once against them, but that was only possible with the starts Rohit provided and the time which is available in the ODI format. Even in IPL 2023 Kohli was not as good against spin and found it tough to get them away.
Even the batting position is different, as Kohli plays as an opener for his IPL team, where he can go hard at the start, get through the middle phase, and launch himself in the final overs but he is expected to bat at 3 for the Indian Team, this was pretty much visible with SKY playing at 4 throughout the Australian series even though he had a chance to bat at 3. Only time will tell what is going to happen and let’s hope no matter what happens it will do good for the Indian Cricket.
Also Read: AUS vs PAK: Test Match Farewell For David Warner