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Former India cricketer, now a seasoned coach, WV Raman suggested leaving the star players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill alone and focusing on the rest of the line-up as the Indian cricket team is heading for another ICC ODI World Cup next year. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have already reached Birmingham.
Ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup, there were speculations over superstars like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma mostly because of their ages. Shubman Gill, who is only 26 and a potential superstar in the future, also remains a hot topic among the Indian cricket fans.
WV Raman's comments on the speculations over Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
Back-to-back T20I series defeats under the newly appointed captain, Shreyas Iyer, are helping the upcoming 3-match ODI series to gain more attention. India will face England for a three-match ODI series, with Shubman Gill as captain, and Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the line-up.
WV Raman pointed out that over the years, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have both done a lot for the team, and Shubman Gill is also destined to be one of the brightest stars in the cricketing world in the future.
"Those guys, poor guys, leave them alone yaar. Eight others play along with them. Talk about them also sometimes. Focus on that also. It is a team game."
"Poor guys, they have done extraordinarily well for a long period of time, and Gill is looking like someone who will do it for a long time. Why do we want to go in the same path all the time? Let's look at what needs to be done in an all-round manner," Raman told RevSportz during an interaction.
Why India suffered back-to-back series defeats in T20Is
Two consecutive series defeats in the shortest format of the game were unexpected from the team that claimed the 2026 T20 World Cup title. Despite having so much talent inside the squad, why did the team suddenly break down against Ireland and England subsequently?
The former cricketer mentioned that the absence of a prolific all-rounder like Hardik Pandya, who is proven in the format, was missed in the series because of injury.
WV Raman asks BCCI to protect the key talents
WV Raman stated that it is the duty of the team management to make sure the star players remain fit for the high-octane tournaments. He mentioned Harshit Rana also, who returned in action after a long injury layoff.
"If he is not there, he is going to be missed. He can bring so much in the white-ball format. He seems to be sustaining injuries regularly, and that is something that nobody can do anything about," WV Raman added further.
"But people can try and focus on a few individuals. For example, Harshit Rana. He is very promising and has given the impression that he can perform. But he also gets injured. So some method needs to be worked out to minimise the instances of injuries for them. Injury prevention is something that has to be looked into," he expressed.
