After Ravichandran Ashwin’s exit, the clock is ticking for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

After Ravichandran Ashwin’s exit, the clock is ticking for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (PTI/File Photo)

With Ravichandran Ashwin’s exit, long before there was any thought of pushing him out, generational change is well and truly upon the Indian team. Ashwin, India’s greatest match-winner of the past decade, is just the latest link in a once-unbreakable chain to make way.

Though Rohit Sharma, India’s captain, spoke in jest of reporters getting into trouble for clubbing the names of the yet-to-retire Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane with that of Ashwin, anyone even remotely clued into Indian cricket will know that there’s no way back for that duo, who played such pivotal roles in India’s victories in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

The same goes for the fast-bowling pair of Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, also part of notable victories in Australia. Mohammed Shami tried desperately hard to recover from his knee problems to make it to Australia, but the fact that he wasn’t risked – even with a place in the World Test Championship final at stake – suggests that he won’t be part of the plans for the next cycle either.

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That quintet haven’t played for India in recent times. Virat Kohli and Rohit have. Ashwin name-checked both in his farewell speech, and while both are younger, such has been the dip in their batting productivity that the biggest debates in Indian cricket now centre on how long they can go on.

Kohli made a fine second-innings century in Perth, but his form over the past half-decade – an average of 31.67 from 37 Tests – is not a patch on the all-conquering batsman he was between 2014 and 2019. Kohli’s fitness is still second to none, and he remains as engaged as ever on the field. The big question is whether he has the will to push himself through another WTC cycle and possibly another 50-over World Cup, especially with a young family.

Rohit has 152 runs in his last 13 innings, the kind of horror run that would have certainly resulted in the chop if not for him being captain. There have been question marks about his fitness as well, and unless there’s a dramatic upturn in form in Melbourne and Sydney, it’s hard to see him part of the squad when India go to England next summer for their first series in a new WTC cycle.

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Rohit will be 38 by then. Few of the greats have flourished at such an age. Viv Richards, the most dominant batsman of a generation past, made just one hundred in his last 19 Tests. Sachin Tendulkar didn’t make any in his last 23. When you lose the Midas touch that late in your career, you seldom get it back.

While Sydney may not be Kohli’s Test swansong, there’s a very real possibility that the famous old ground graced by the likes of Victor Trumper and Don Bradman could see Rohit in India whites for the last time.