Former Gujarat batter Priyank Panchal has claimed through an X post that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s timely retirement from T20I and Test cricket has been the best thing ever for 50-over cricket. He also opined that the interest of the people has rekindled due to the two stars exclusively playing the 50-over format.
The biggest highlight of Test cricket in 2025, after the maiden ICC title for South Africa in the form of the 2025 World Test Championship title, was Indian great Virat Kohli’s retirement announcement from the longest format of the game. Rohit Sharma also retired at the same time, ahead of the England tour.
However, the two have since then made it clear that they intend to feature in ODIs in the long run and are eyeing the 2027 ICC World Cup in South Africa. However, it is worth mentioning that recently, many have urged Kohli to reverse his retirement for the sake of Indian red-ball cricket.
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Retiring from Tests and T20s was the best thing for ODI cricket
While some, like Sanjay Manjrekar, have been busy shaming the Indian legends for having escaped the most toiling format in Test cricket, also claiming ODIs to be the simplest among cricket formats, former Gujarat batter Priyank Panchal has a contradictory opinion.
The hype around the 50-over games had started to dwindle with the introduction of shorter leagues and international matches; hence, to keep the stakeholders on task, players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s participation often draws crowds towards the format.
“Virat and Rohit retiring from the other two formats was the best thing that could’ve happened to ODI cricket. The 50-overs game, which seemed to be in its final trenches, has suddenly been revived because two of India’s biggest legends play that format exclusively,” Panchal wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Virat and Rohit retiring from the other two formats was the best thing that could’ve happened to ODI cricket. The 50-overs game, which seemed to be in its final trenches, has suddenly been revived because two of India’s biggest legends play exclusively that format. #INDvsNZ
— Priyank Panchal (@PKpanchal09) January 10, 2026
Rohit and Kohli on fire as they take List A cricket by storm
Rohit and Virat both made their return to ODI cricket in October 2025, which marked an end to their 7-month-long international break. They were unstoppable against the Aussies, particularly Rohit Sharma, who had gained fitness after a long and tough regime, and then Virat Kohli got to the driving side against South Africa.
Forced to play in the domestic competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, as per BCCI’s diktat, Rohit played for the Mumbai team and smashed a stupendous 155 in the first game. Virat was more consistent and scored 131 and 77 runs for Delhi.
India have hence understood that at least in the ODI format, they would not be able to make the African safari possible for the 2027 World Cup without these two greats of Indian cricket.
Rohit Sharma is the best ODI opener, and Virat Kohli is the best ODI batsman – Shubman Gill
Rohit Sharma is unarguably one of the greatest batters in the longer format of limited-overs cricket. However, when it comes to opening batsmen, there have been very few who are as good as the Indian opener. Rohit is also the highest six-hitter in One-day international cricket history.
Currently, Rohit takes the no. 1 spot in the ICC Rankings after his third half-century since his return to international cricket. Virat Kohli is second on the rankings, just 8 points behind Sharma. Kohli made a huge leap after his twin hundreds in the South Africa series.
Shubman Gill had remarked ahead of the New Zealand series that Rohit is the best One-day opener of all time, and Virat Kohli is the best batter, thus avoiding a conflict of interest with any of the senior batters.
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