NEW DELHI: Former India great Harbhajan Singh is of the opinion that Virat Kohli’s exceptional physical condition will
allow him to endure the challenges of playing cricket at the international level for an additional five years. Meanwhile, he also thinks that Rohit Sharma, who currently captains the Indian team in both Test and ODI formats, can continue playing for at least two more years.
“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,” Harbhajan told PTI Videos in an exclusive interview.
“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 man with 700 plus international wickets said.
Harbhajan believes that both Virat and Rohit are essential players when it comes to Test cricket.
“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 its limited overs cricket and Test cricket. You need experienced cricketers to nurture the talent that is
coming up.
“Selectors need to see that if someone is not performing well, they should be dropped. Whether they are senior players or juniors. But as long as everyone is fit, they should be able to get selected in the team.”
He further said: “And if they are not contributing in any manner, whether it’s 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 is capable of performing at what age. Obviously, they are considering all those factors before picking them.”
Harbhajan holds the opinion that younger players possess a greater level of determination compared to their more experienced counterparts, as they are still in the process of proving their worth and securing their place in the team.
“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.”
Harbhajan downplayed the significance of India’s recent 0-2 defeat against Sri Lanka in the ODI series.
“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.”
