Conversations with Rohit Sharma centre on taking Indian team forward: Virat Kohli
New Delhi, September 27
India's ace batter Virat Kohli has said that his conversations with Rohit Sharma have always centred on taking Indian cricket forward, with the two senior batters regularly exchanging ideas over the years in their respective leadership roles.
Speaking to JioStar ahead of India's first ODI against the West Indies, Kohli reflected on his conversations with Rohit and how their discussions have evolved as the team moves towards the 2027 World Cup.
"When you have played for so long and you have been in leadership positions respectively for India, the goal is always that, as a senior player, you would bounce off things with your captain," Kohli told JioStar.
"In the same way, when I became captain, I would bounce off a lot of ideas with him. And MS equally, because he had just stepped down. And similarly for Rohit, when he became captain, he would bounce off ideas with me as well. So, the conversations have always been about how to take the Indian team forward. Because eventually, the end goal is, how does the team benefit?" he added.
He said when the World Cup approaches, such discussions become more intense.
"But of course, when the World Cup comes closer, then you're also looking to tighten things a lot more and streamline small little things. You go into more intense, more detailed conversations of how can we get a particular right, immediately correct it and utilise it in the next game. So, those conversations have always been there between me and him," Kolhi said.
Kohli and Rohit have shared India's dressing room through different leadership eras, with Kohli taking over the Test captaincy in late 2014 and limited-overs leadership in 2017 from MS Dhoni. Rohit was subsequently appointed India's all-format captain in 2022.
The two have now entered the next phase of their international careers, having retired from Test and T20I cricket and continue to represent India only in ODIs.
With Shubman Gill now leading the ODI side, Kohli and Rohit's experience remains an important part of India's preparations for the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
India's three-match ODI series against the West Indies begins in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday and forms part of the team's build-up to the global 50-over tournament.
Kohli has amassed 14,941 runs in 302 ODI innings at an average of 58.59, including 54 centuries and 79 fifties, with a highest score of 183.
India are scheduled to play five ODIs in New Zealand and three against Sri Lanka later this year, followed by three ODIs against Zimbabwe at the start of 2027.
— ANI
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