‘No reason to stop’: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli get New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell’s backing for 2027 World Cup

New Zealand ODI captain Michael Bracewell insists that it would be “silly to underestimate” Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli despite the two being in their late 30s, while backing the two Indian stalwarts to feature in the 2027 ICC World Cup in South Africa.

Bracewell made the comment in the build-up to the three-match ODI series between the Men in Blue and the Black Caps, which gets underway on Sunday, 11 January in Vadodara, and will be the iconic Ro-Ko duo’s third assignment since October.

Both Rohit and Kohli have retired from Tests and Twenty20 Internationals, having quit the former last summer, and are only active in One-Day Internationals as far as representing Team India is concerned.

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And while there were initial doubts over their participation in the next edition of the ODI World Cup, the two seniors have since silenced their critics in style by letting their bats do the talking during the series in Australia as well as against South Africa at home.

‘They’re both playing beautifully’

“I’d like to see them (Rohit and Virat) play in the World Cup. They’re obviously still playing very good cricket so there’s no reason to stop,” Bracewell told reporters on the sidelines of New Zealand Cricket Golf Day, organised by NZC in partnership with TCM Sports at the Willingdon Sports Club.

“They’re both playing beautifully, so why not? Their records speak for themselves, both individually and as a team. They’ve been involved in some great Indian sides and led that side with the bat. You’d be silly to underestimate them, that’s for sure,” added the all-rounder, who will be leading New Zealand in the absence of regular white-ball captain Mitchell Santner.

Also Read | Ro-Ko mania: How Rohit and Kohli turned sideshow ODIs into a prime asset

Bracewell added that the upcoming three-match series remains important for both teams despite the next ODI World Cup taking place nearly two years from now and the T20 World Cup set to begin a month from now.

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“One-day cricket has a lot of different skill-sets involved in it. You have to be able to bat for long periods of time and then apply pressure. We’re gonna spend a little bit of time here leading into the World Cup so, that’s very valuable for us as a team and individually to get used to the conditions,” he continued.

The ODI series will be the first assignment of the year for both teams, and will also witness Shreyas Iyer make his return to international cricket for the first time since suffering a serious injury in Sydney during the one-dayers in Australia in October.

Vice-captain Iyer’s participation, however, remains subject to a final clearance from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence, though his blazing knock for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy should erase all doubts over his participation.

Captain Shubman Gill also returns to action in the upcoming series, having skipped the one-day leg of South Africa’s tour of India due to a neck injury.