Former Indian pace bowler Ashish Nehra feels that it was the right decision for the legendary duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to be part of the ODI squad for the upcoming Sri Lankan tour as well. Nehra also shared the importance of the senior pair gelling with the newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir as early as possible.

While talking about this, Nehra said on Sports Tak: “The good thing is, even though there is a chance that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli don’t play in the major 50-over tournaments coming up but they are still there for this series in Sri Lanka. Gautam Gambhir has come as a new coach and the earlier they gel with him inside that dressing room environment, the better, regardless of whether they knew each other for many years before that or not. So I like that they are playing the ODIs.”

“Many a times it happens that after a major tournament like the World Cup you would want to give youngsters more chances. India already have a good pool of players for white-ball cricket and so the more time these youngsters spend time with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the better it is for them,” he again shared.

However, team India will play three T20Is, starting July 27, before the three-match ODI series from August 2 to 7 on the Sri Lankan tour as well. Notably, this will be Gambhir’s first assignment as the Indian head coach after taking over the reins from Rahul Dravid. Ashish Nehra also added that Kohli and Rohit could play in the 2027 ODI World Cup as well.

“It depends on how passionate and how motivated you are but we know that is not a problem when it comes to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. That is how they have managed to get to this stage in their careers. But from here on, as you grow older, there are players like Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan and so on who will be scoring runs. They will keep pushing you,” concluded Ashish Nehra.