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IND vs AUS: Will star India batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retire from the 50-over format as well after the ODI series against Australia? The three-match series will begin later this month, and it's the first time that both Rohit and Kohli will be playing in international cricket after winning the Champions Trophy 2025. Both of them had announced their retirement from the shortest format and from Test cricket as well. Since the team's next target is the 2027 World Cup and there are still two years left, questions have been raised as to whether Rohit and Kohli will be backed by the team management till then. R Ashwin, who has played with them, revealed that both of them are inching towards the fag end of their careers.

"On one side is selection, on the other side is Kohli and Rohit. These are two sides of the same coin. The selection and selectors have clearly shown that the team had decided to move forward. However, in this process, two players are at the back end of their careers. You like it or not, they are at the back-end of their careers. However, one thing I would like to say is that the way to deal with players at the back-end of their careers should be better. It is very easy to say from a fan's perspective, from an organization's perspective that they have grown old and should retire," Ashwin was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

"One of the reasons we feel this way is that we see many young players in the IPL performing well, and we believe they can replace these experienced players. However, during this process, one thing we often overlook is solid communication and knowledge transfer. I request that this be addressed in the future," he added.

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Ashwin also talked about how the team management should have informed Rohit and Virat Kohli about their ODI future immediately after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup.

"I really hope the conversation has happened with Virat and Rohit. But if the conversation has happened now, why did it not happen after they said they were retiring after the 2024 T20 World Cup? It could have happened then itself. Had it happened back then, they could have thought about whether to continue playing or not, because this is the direction the team wishes to head towards," he added. 

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"But now, this current situation leaves a lot of uninformed space. When there is uninformed decision-making that is put outside, you leave a lot of room for speculation. Why is the communication not coming from the players? Because there is not much communication happening, it is not going from here to there. If the communication is not clean, transparent, and not done with the vision moving forward, it leaves the players in a very tender space. Considering the magnitude of Virat and Rohit's contribution to Indian cricket, I think there should be better communication not only to them, but to everyone else," he concluded.