‘You never know with…' - Harbhajan Singh predicts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s cricketing future

Former Indian cricket legend Harbhajan Singh recently spoke to PTI. During his chat, the 43-year-old spoke about the playing futures of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The two stars are towards the fag end of their careers with Rohit Sharma currently 37 years old and Virat Kohli set to turn 36 in two months. 

Harbhajan Singh said "Rohit can easily play for two more years. You never know with Virat Kohli's fitness, you can see him competing for five years. He is probably the fittest guy in the team”

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were last seen during the Sri Lankan tour playing the ODI series. The two stars have called time on their T20I careers post the T20 World Cup campaign. Both veteran stars are set to feature in the initial phase of the Duleep Trophy 2024 tournament. 

Harbhajan Singh stresses the importance of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Speaking to PTI, Harbhajan Singh also said, “You ask any 19-year-old competing with Virat (on fitness). Virat will beat him. He is that fit. I believe Virat and Rohit have a lot of cricket left in them and it is entirely up to them. If they are fit enough, they are performing and the team is winning, they should continue to play. As simple as that.”

The former Indian star also said, “Red ball cricket, you really need these two guys to play a little bit more than what people are asking. You need experience in all formats whether it's limited overs cricket and Test cricket. You need experienced cricketers to nurture the talent that is coming up.”

Speaking about the selection, Harbhajan Singh also said, “Selectors need to see, that if someone is not performing well, they should be dropped. Whether they are senior player or juniors. But as long as everyone is fit, they should be able to get selected in the team. And if they are not contributing in any manner, whether its fitness or number of runs, then the time has come. They should be making way for the youngsters.”

“At the end of the day, it's an individual decision and selectors are there to watch these steps as to who are capable to perform at what age. Obviously, they are considering all those factors before picking them” added Harbhajan Singh. 

During his chat with BCCI, the former Indian great lauded the selection committee for picking young talents. The 43-year-old said, "I always believe that youngsters have much more hunger than the seniors. If you play for 15 years your hunger a little bit comes down. Great to see Riyan Parag getting the opportunities and the way Yashasvi Jaiswal is coming up and Shubman Gill is playing.”

Finally asked to throw light on the Indian loss to Sri Lanka, the two-time World Cup winner said, “It was one of those things. Sometimes you win it, sometimes you lose it. It's sports after all. All teams go through these periods. You play well but you still don't win. I will give credit to Sri Lanka. They played well. They played better than India."