Kohli-Rohit future: No clarity post Australia tour but will they play for India A games vs Aus A

Speculation over Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's ODI future has intensified, but the Indian cricket board is in no rush to take a call on the two maestros.

With the Bangladesh series scheduled in August being called off, India's next ODI assignment will be an away series from October 19-25 against Australia. However, whether Rohit and Kohli will be playing ODIs post Australia tour is a thing of conjecture.

There is a school of thought in the BCCI that, for the duo to get ready for the Australia series Down Under, they can play a couple of India A games in India when the Australia A team — which will have Jake Fraser-McGurk in its ranks — tours. The three List A games will be played in Kanpur on September 30, October 3 and October 5, at the same time the senior team plays the first Test against the West Indies in Ahmedabad.

Indian cricket runs on narratives and currently it is about whether Kohli and Rohit, with a cumulative 83 ODI hundreds and 25,000-plus runs, can last till the October 2027 ODI World Cup when they would be 39 and 40 respectively.

"Obviously, if they (Rohit and Kohli) have something in mind, they would tell the BCCI brass like they did before the England Test tour. But from an Indian team's perspective, the next big assignment is the T20 World Cup in February and preparations before that. The immediate focus will be on sending the best team for the Asia Cup T20 tournament, hoping all players are fit and available," a BCCI source privy to the developments told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The BCCI never believes in taking decisions in haste and would always gauge the mood and public perceptions before taking a call, which is sensitive in nature considering the massive fan following of the two players.

The last tournament that they played was the Champions Trophy in Dubai where Kohli scored a hundred in a successful chase against Pakistan at the group league stage, while Rohit starred with a sublime half-century in the chase during the final.

However, both have not played competitive cricket since the conclusion of the Indian Premier League.

Kohli, who is now a resident of London, had recently posted an Instagram story after an indoor nets session, which is an indicator that he has started training.

Rohit, who was also in the UK on a break post IPL, is recently back in Mumbai and would certainly be expected to start training in a few days.

While there are some media reports about BCCI offering the duo a farewell game at Sydney on October 25, the BCCI source in the know of things said that as of now, no such discussions have taken place.

As far as playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy is concerned, the source said that the national One-Day Championship starts on December 24, and even before that, there is another three-match ODI series at home against South Africa starting November 30.

"Even if they play Vijay Hazare, before that there would already be six ODIs that will be played. In between the Australia ODIs and the South Africa ODIs, there is an India A series against South Africa A where three List A games (50 overs) will be held at Rajkot on November 13, 16 and 19.

"Now, will the duo want to play those three A games, or possibly two, before the South Africa series is the question. Even more important is whether Ajit Agarkar and his colleagues would want that," he said.

"Overlapping the Vijay Hazare Trophy (December 24, 2025 - January 18, 2026) will be the three ODIs between India and New Zealand (January 11, 14, 18). So even if they play the Vijay Hazare Trophy, it can't be for more than two to three games," he added.