‘Both Rohit, Kohli should…’: Harbhajan Singh has his take on India’s T20 World Cup squad

Ever since India was knocked out of the T20 World Cup in 2022, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have not played in the shortest format in international cricket. After an impactful performance in the One Day International (ODI) World Cup 2023 on home soil, both Kohli and Rohit are expected to return to the T20I side. However, they weren’t part of the squad in the recently-concluded T20Is against South Africa. Their absence from the shortest format allowed opportunities for emerging talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, and Ruturaj Gaikwad to stake a claim for India’s T20 World Cup squad.

Now there’s a section that feels that Rohit and Kohli are not suited to the demands of T20 cricket and must make way for the youngsters. Speaking on this, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said that both Kohli and Rohit should be integral parts of India’s squad for the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup. He said that any successful side needs to have a proper balance between youth and experience.

“I think both Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) should be there in the World Cup…I think a good combination would be possible only when you have good senior players too with the youth. Virat and Rohit have a lot of mettle in them…I think they should play,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by ANI.

The T20I series against Australia and South Africa saw India try out different combinations without the services of skipper Rohit, Kohli, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah. The side was captained by Suryakumar Yadav, and there has been plenty of good promise shown by the young players.

Harbhajan stressed on the importance of allowing the young team to grow and learn and that people needed to be more patient.

“I think that if we give them time, they will obviously learn. We will have to change ourselves a little as we judge teams on results too quickly. Results take time. This team is in the process. South Africa is not an easy place to play, especially for bowlers,” Harbhajan added.