Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir feels veteran cricketer Virat Kohli has a huge role to play for Team India in the ODIs, ahead of the 2023 ICC World Cup. The mega-event will take place later this year. Virat Kohli recently played ODIs against Bangladesh, where India lost the series 2-1. He has been rested by the selectors for the ongoing T20I series against Sri Lanka.
The former Indian skipper will make his back for the following three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. Speaking about Virat Kohli’s role in ODIs, Gautam Gambhir expressed that the batter will be keen to win his second 50-over World Cup. Kohli was part of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning campaign. During a discussion on the Star Sports show ‘Cricket ka Mahakumbh’, Gambhir said, as quoted by Sportskeeda,
“There are very few players who get so many chances to play World Cups. Yusuf (Pathan) and I have played only one 50-over World Cup. This will be Virat Kohli’s fourth World Cup. There cannot be a bigger achievement than having two 50-over World Cup medals in your home. Very few players will have two 50-over World Cup medals.”
“Individual records are important, the number of runs you score gives you immense happiness at the end of your career, but if you ask any player, how many World Cups you have won is the parameter of how much you have achieved,” he added.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s experience will remain very important: Gautam Gambhir
Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir feels the experience of veteran cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be of importance for Team India. He expressed that unlike T20s, in 50-over cricket, a team needs to have an anchor in the team. The left-handed batter further added that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s roles also be to mentor the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer, as it will be their first World Cup.
“50-over format – absolutely, because 50-over format is the one format where you need an anchor. You probably don’t need to anchor that much in the T20 format, and Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s experience will remain very important,” said Gautam Gambhir.
“If you have impactful players – if you select Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer – it is the first World Cup for all of them. So Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s experience will be very important, that how the entire batting lineup bats around them. I believe in this format Virat Kohli’s role is very important, more than T20 and Test cricket,” he added.
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