It’s almost time for the ODI series against England to begin. According to reports, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma can be seen participating in it in the interim, as the Champions Trophy 2025 will be held shortly after.
The England series will be Team India’s next task after the Test series against Australia has concluded. After nearly a decade, the Indian team has lost the Border Gavaskar Trophy, and they will soon return home as a team. The Indian team will play a series of five Twenty20 matches against England at the end of this month, followed by three One-Day Internationals. The Indian squad for this has not yet been revealed. The main query that is currently surfacing is whether Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be seen competing in the series against England. There are now some updates available on this.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma can play an ODI series against England
While playing in ODIs, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retired from T20 international cricket. Regarding the T20 series, there is no doubt about it in this scenario, but there is uncertainty regarding their potential involvement in one-day matches. It has now been reported that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will play in the ODI series against England. The Champion’s Trophy is the main cause of this. The Champions Trophy will take place right after the ODI series between England and India. The format of the Champions Trophy match will be ODI. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will likely play in the Champions Trophy, but they will need to play one or two more matches to gauge their fitness and level of preparation. For this, the England series is going to be very important.
Just three ODIs remain for India before the Champions Trophy
In 2024, the Indian team participated in just three One-Day Internationals. wherein it also had to concede defeat. The team only played three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) during the entire year, and they will now play more ODIs. In other words, the Indian team is not fully prepared for the 50-over game. By January 12th, all parties must reveal their teams for the Champions Trophy. For both the Champions Trophy and the ODI series against England, it is anticipated that nearly the same team will play. A change or two might occur. In other words, these next few days will be crucial. which will be observed determining the state and course of Indian cricket.
Only ODIs will now be played by Rohit and Kohli
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will only be able to play in one format going forward as Team India will not be playing any Test matches. Thus, they won’t have a heavy workload. In addition, Rohit Sharma leads the ODI team as captain. In addition, he needs to get his team ready for the Champions Trophy. Since India’s opening Champions Trophy match is against Bangladesh, which may be viewed as a light match, there are important matches against Pakistan and New Zealand that will prove to be extremely difficult following this. It is unclear what BCCI is considering for the long-term strategy.