“BCCI Chief Acknowledges Time Needed to Fill Rohit, Virat Void in T20 Team”

Given the void that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s international retirement from the format will leave, BCCI President Roger Binny feels it will take the Indian T20 team another two to three years to “come into its own” once more.

Following their crucial contributions in India’s second global championship in the format, Rohit, 37, and Virat, 35, announced their retirement from T20Is. In a high-stakes summit match on Saturday, the 2007 winners overcame South Africa by seven runs to snap their agonizing 11-year wait for an ICC trophy.

“There is so much talent in the IPL. Lot of cricketers are coming through but it is going to take some time to bridge the gap after retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from T20Is,” Binny said in a media interaction after the final.

“They have contributed so much. It’s going to take time. We will probably see in the next two-three years, the team coming back into it’s own without them,” he added.

After 159 matches and 4231 runs, Rohit has amassed five hundreds and thirty-two fifties in T20Is.

With a peak score of 122, Kohli amassed 4188 runs at an average of 48.69 in 125 Twenty20 International matches. He scored his lone T20 century in September 2022 against Afghanistan.

Both will carry on competing globally in the IPL, ODI, and Test formats.

Binny, who played in the 1983 ODI World Cup championship win, said that the wealth of skill in India helped them go from being an underdog to a contender in the World Cup.

“In 1983, we went as underdogs. But after that, that tag was taken off us. Whenever we go into World Cup, people expect India to win. No one is taking us lightly anymore,” he said.

Rahul Dravid’s time as head coach comes to an end with the recently ended mega-event. There are many rumors that former opener Gautam Gambhir may succeed him, but Binny has been silent about the situation.

“Nothing concrete has come yet. Gautam Gambhir has a lot of experience. He has worked with teams. He played Test matches, ODIs, T20s. Let’s see,” he said.

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