The end of a successful ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign for India also saw the retirement of Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma from the shortest format. The series against Zimbabwe was an opportunity for a young Indian team to make their mark under the leadership of Shubman Gill.
And although both Rohit and Kohli are now missing from the T20I picture, Vikram Rathour, India’s batting coach for the T20 World Cup 2024, believes they still have a lot to give in other formats.
“It is never going to be easy to replace people of Rohit and Virat’s caliber,” Rathour told PTI. “The recently concluded series against Zimbabwe gave us some glimpse into how the T20 team will look like in the future.
“But we still have a few years in Test and ODI cricket to get to that point.”
Rathour believes that India had immense talent coming through the system, but the management needs to strike a balance and ensure a smooth transition process so that the current rising crop could establish themselves by the time these veterans called it a day.
“I won’t be too concerned about it. We have a lot of depth in Indian cricket. There are lots of very talented and skilful players who are coming through the system.
“The only thing we need to make sure is the transition is done in a controlled manner. It needs to be gradual.”
Rathour also named a few players whom he believes could help make the core of the Indian Test and ODI outfits in the coming years.
“I am hoping that by then, players like Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, to name a few, would establish themselves and will make the transition smooth.
“In ODIs also, we have experienced players like Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya to take over.”
Of the above, Rathour marked out Gill and Jaiswal as the future of the Indian batting in coming years.
“There are many exciting players coming through but these two are equipped to play all three formats for a long time. They are going to be the backbone of Indian batting in years to come.”
Another player that stood out for Rathour, was southpaw Rinku Singh. While the batter has already set the world of T20 cricket ablaze, with a career average of 83.2 and a strike-rate of 176.27, and has also made ODI appearances, Rathour opined the 26-year-old was ready for the longest form of the game as well.
“When I see him bat in nets, I can’t find any technical reasons why Rinku [Singh] cannot be a successful Test batter. I understand he has made his name as a terrific finisher in T20 cricket but if you look at his first-class record, he is averaging in high 50s.
“He is also blessed with a very calm temperament. So all these factors indicate that if given an opportunity, he can develop into a Test cricketer.”
