Gautam Gambhir Avoids Confirming Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli's World Cup Chances Despite Stellar South Africa Series

India's head coach Gautam Gambhir avoided confirming if senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have done enough to make it to the squad for the ODI World Cup 2027. Gambhir repeated his previous remarks, saying the World Cup is two years away, and the focus should be on the present.

Virat and Rohit had a remarkable outing in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, scoring 302 and 146 runs, respectively, and played a significant role in India's 2-1 series win. Both veteran stars play just the ODI format, having retired from the Test and T20I formats.

"They are world-class players and their experience is important in the dressing room. They’ve been doing it for a long time. Hopefully, they can continue doing the same, which is going to be important in the 50-over format," Gambhir said in the post-match press conference after India defeated South Africa by nine wickets in the third and final ODI match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

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Having made their respective return to international cricket in October during the Australia tour, Virat has scored two centuries and as many fifties in six matches. On the other hand, Rohit has one hundred and three half-centuries to his name. Gambhir lauded the efforts of Virat and Rohit but quickly shifted focus to Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal when asked about the legendary batters' World Cup chances.

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"First, you've got to realise that the ODI World Cup is two years away. It’s important to stay in the present, and that young boys coming into the set-up grab their opportunities."

"Someone like Rutu (Gaikwad) has batted out of position, but he’s a quality player. We wanted to give him an opportunity in this series because of the kind of form he was in with India A. And he grabbed that opportunity with both hands when we were under pressure. Getting that kind of 100 was proper quality. And Yashasvi as well, we’ve seen how much quality he has, especially in Test cricket. It’s just the start of his career, especially in white-ball cricket. Hopefully, he has a massive future ahead and so does Rutu."

It is to be noted that none of Jaiswal of Gaikwad is a regular ODI player for India. They got their chances in the absence of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. Gambhir said he wants to create a strong pool of 20-25 players before the World Cup, and Jaiswal and Gaikwad should take every opportunity that comes their way.
"Try and give them opportunities wherever we can, because we want a reasonable group of players – probably around 20-25 – before the World Cup. Whenever we are able to give them opportunities, we’ll do so. But once your captain and vice-captain are back, obviously, they are your starters. They (Gaikwad and Jaiswal) should be ready whenever they get that opportunity," Gambhir added.