• Source:JND
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Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes that it won't be easy for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to remain fit and make it to the squad for the ODI World Cup in 2027.

Having retired from Test and T20I formats, Virat and Rohit are now just the ODI cricketers and are currently out of action. They put an end to their respective Test careers ahead of India's all-important tour to England. Notably, India are scheduled to play the ODI cricket in August during their tour to Bangladesh.

"All of us must understand, just like everyone, the game will go away from them and they will go away from the game," Ganguly was quoted by PTI as saying.

The next ODI World Cup is scheduled in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia and by the time the prestigious ICC event is played, Kohli will be 38 years old and Rohit will touch 40. Till then India have 27 ODIs to play spread across nine bilateral series. That means Kohli and Rohit will hardly get 15 international games a year.

"It won't be easy, with 15 games a year," Ganguly said.

With 25,000 runs and 83 international hundreds between them, both Kohli and Rohit have expressed their desire to play the 50-over global event after recently retiring from Test cricket.

Ganguly, while responding to whether he had any word of advice for them, said: "I have got no advice. I think they know the game as much as I do. They will take a call."

Ganguly acknowledged that finding a player of the calibre of Kohli to replace him won't be easy, though he is not worried about Indian cricket after the retirement of the two stalwarts.

"I was not concerned at all. Virat is a class player. Finding his replacement will take time. But the rest, I wasn't surprised."

Under Rohit's captaincy, India fell short of the title success in the 2023 ODI WC at home as they lost the final against Australia in Ahmedabad. Kohli had a memorable campaign in the tournament as he was the top run-getter with 765 runs to his name in 11 matches at an average of 95.62.