Not Rahul Dravid!! This man in Indian cricket decided Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's future in T20I Cricket after IPL 2024

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two modern-day greats of Indian cricket. The duo played a significant role in India's T20 World Cup 2024 win recently at Barbados. After the win, both legendary cricketers decided to retire from the T20I format.

Although the Indian team was full of joy and relief after the T20 World Cup win, it was not always the case. Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had to face severe criticism from fans, former cricketers, and various factions for their repeated failure to win any ICC trophy.

The strike rates of both the players were always in question. But despite all the criticism, the selectors decided to stick with the legendary duo for the T20 World Cup 2024 and it paid rich dividends as India clinched the title. In the end, it turned out to be a fairytale ending for these legends.

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Selectors decided to back Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for T20Is despite severe criticism: Reports

According to a report, chief selector Ajit Agarkar decided to have a chat with captain Rohit Sharma regarding his future in T20I cricket. Rohit decided to have one more shot at the title, which proved to be the right one as well.

"Rohit agreed straight away. He felt he would give one last shot in the T20 format. Rohit felt the way his batting form is, he can push one more season," a BCCI official was quoted as saying to The Indian Express.

Rohit Sharma had a fabulous ODI World Cup 2023 where he finished as the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament with 597 runs in 11 matches. Most importantly, he had a strike rate of 125.94, which showed a successful change in his batting style. Such an aggressive style was likely to work for him in the T20 format and it proved right in the T20 World Cup 2024.

Rohit Sharma finished the T20 World Cup 2024 with 257 runs in 8 matches. He had a strike rate of 156.70, which was a big ask on bowling-friendly wickets in the USA and the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was also likely to be backed if Rohit Sharma had to be given a chance. Kohli has an excellent record in T20Is with his average close to 50. Talking about T20 World Cups, he has an even better record and despite the T20 World Cup 2024 not being his best, he still finished as the highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cups at an average of 58.72.

Virat Kohli has a fantastic IPL 2024

Adding to this, Kohli had a fantastic IPL 2024, where he emerged as the highest run-scorer of the tournament. Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal are two batters who were likely to give a fight to Kohli in the squad but both had an IPL 2024 season.

"With these three important pieces of jigsaw in place, the picture was clear. Now we needed to put a plan in place," a selector told The Indian Express.

With the T20 World Cup 2024 win, Virat Kohli won his first T20 World Cup title while Rohit Sharma now has two T20 World Cups to his name. He was also a part of India's 2007 T20 World Cup win.