Mumbai, August 21: India’s senior batting stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will reportedly engage in discussions with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to decide the future course of their international careers.
The two modern-day greats have already called time on their Test and T20I journeys, raising speculation about whether they will continue representing India in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The upcoming white-ball tour of Australia could well be their last bilateral assignment unless a fresh decision is made.
According to reports, BCCI officials will soon sit down with Kohli and Rohit to chalk out the road ahead. However, the board is expected to give both players the freedom to make the final call on their ODI future, keeping in mind their stature and contributions to Indian cricket.
The discussions are expected to take place after the conclusion of the upcoming 2025 Asia Cup, scheduled to be held from September 9 in the UAE. During the same meeting, Shreyas Iyer is understood to be in contention for the ODI captaincy, with the BCCI looking to ease Rohit Sharma’s captaincy burden. The development comes even as Iyer was left out of the Asia Cup squad, which will also see Shubman Gill return as vice-captain of the T20I team.
In his 273-match ODI career, Rohit Sharma has amassed 11,168 runs at an impressive average of 48.76. The India skipper has 32 centuries and 58 half-centuries to his name, and is the only batter in the world to have registered three double hundreds in the format — a record that underlines his dominance in 50-over cricket.
Coming to Kohli, if the run-machine decides to stretch his ODI career further, the door still remains slightly open for him to chase down Sachin Tendulkar’s monumental record for most runs in the format. Having recently gone past the 14,000-run milestone, Kohli is a little over 4,000 runs short of Tendulkar’s mark.
While the gap is considerable, Kohli’s superior batting average compared to the former India great keeps the conversation alive.
On the domestic front, Kohli’s latest outing came in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL), where he scripted history by guiding Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their maiden title — ending a wait of 18 long years and finally lifting the trophy that had eluded him and the franchise for so long.
With the next ODI World Cup scheduled in Africa in 2027, the selectors are keen on having clarity over India’s leadership plans. The focus, sources suggest, will be on appointing a long-term captain who can guide the team through the transition phase and mount a strong challenge for the trophy.
Significantly, India have not lifted the ODI World Cup since their 2011 triumph and came agonisingly close in 2023, only to be denied by Australia in the final.
