Brian Lara, a West Indies icon, has endorsed senior Team India stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to participate in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies and the United States. Brian Lara acknowledged that India has a great T20 team, but noted that stars like Kohli and Rohit cannot be replaced.
Rohit and Kohli haven’t played a T20I for India since the Men in Blue were defeated by England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final in Adelaide by a score of 10-wickets. In their absence, a lot of youngsters have emerged, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya guiding the side on many occasions.
Speaking to ANI, Brian Lara campaigned for both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to be included in India’s T20 World Cup team next year.
“I think whichever team India picks, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. But you can’t replace experience. What Virat and Rohit bring is a lot of experience. They know the conditions in the Caribbean. They have played there.”
He Added:
“I wouldn’t say that they should dictate their future but I think the sort of players, the legends that they are in the game, I am almost sure there will be a lot of respect in finding out what they want to do, how far they want to push it and make the decision then,” the former West Indies captain told the news agency.
Brian Lara
In the T20I format, Kohli and Rohit are the top two run scorers. Kohli has 4,008 runs with an average of 52.73 and a strike rate of 137.96 in 115 matches. Rohit has scored 3,853 runs at a strike rate of 139.24 and an average of 31.32.
India played their best cricket in the World Cup: Brian Lara
During the conversation, Brian Lara also discussed India’s performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup. The Men in Blue won ten matches before losing to Australia in the final. Lara praised India and noted that the Australians improved on the big day.
“I won’t say they are struggling. They played their best cricket in the World Cup. I think what we experience is how powerful what we perceive to be failure is – which is the Australians losing a couple of matches, understanding where they had to play, and where they have to improve.”
Brian Lara
In the final, India batted first and were restricted to 240, a score Australia chased in 43 overs with six wickets in hand.