Dilip Vengsarkar indirectly orders Ajit Agarkar to drop Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma from ODIs

Former India National Cricket Team captain and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selector, Dilip Vengsarkar, has raised questions over the selection of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the Australia ODI series.

Dilip Vengsarkar stated that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee needs to quickly take a call on the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli because one-format players are very difficult to assess.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be seen in action on the Australia tour

Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will very soon be seen in action in international cricket when Team India travel to Australia for a high-voltage white-ball series.

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India and Australia will lock horns with each other in a three-match ODI series and a five-match T20I series, with Kohli and Rohit featuring in the 50-over format, as it is the only format in which they are active.

The duo were last seen in action for India in international cricket in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, where they played a vital role in the team's triumph.

Despite guiding India to back-to-back ICC tournament triumphs, the BCCI has decided to sack Rohit Sharma and replace him as ODI skipper with Shubman Gill

This means both Rohit and Kohli will travel with the team to Australia as pure batters and will be playing under Shubman Gill's leadership, which will be the first such instance since 2016 that Kohli and Rohit will be playing under a different captain together.

I feel you cannot know or judge the form and fitness of such players - Dilip Vengsarkar

In an interaction with mid-day, Dilip Vengsarkar said that Kohli and Rohit have been great players for India, but judging their fitness and form is hard because they only play one format.

"Rohit and Virat have been great players over the years, but if you are playing just one format of the game, I believe the selectors need to take a call on this. I feel you cannot know or judge the form and fitness of such players because they’ve had a long layoff after the last game they played. It’s very difficult to assess their form and fitness,” said Dilip Vengsarkar.

Dilip Vengsarkar also opined that the selection committee picked Rohit and Kohli for the Australia ODIs mainly because of their past success. He said:

"Rohit and Virat have possibly been picked because of their great records. They have been great players and have done yeoman service to Indian cricket, having won many matches in all formats of the game."

Also Read: India legend accuses Shreyas Iyer of fooling BCCI with red-ball cricket break

It’s really up to the selectors whether they want to stick with Rohit and Virat - Dilip Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar further highlighted how the number of ODI matches being played has significantly decreased. He added:

"But since they have not been playing Test match cricket as well as T20s, and are playing only one format, one-day matches, which is not very often played during the season, it’s very difficult to gauge their form and fitness. But since they have been picked, the selectors may have checked that, though I don’t know how."

The Indian legend also indirectly told the selection committee to incline towards all-format players and move on from Rohit and Kohli.

“It’s really up to the selectors whether they want to stick with Rohit and Virat or look ahead and give opportunities to those players who are available for all formats of the game. It depends on how they look at Indian cricket going ahead,” concluded Vengsarkar.