Time is running out for struggling Indian legends Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma. cricket news


Time is running out for struggling India stalwarts Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma
Whether Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be able to prolong their Test career or not can also be decided in the coming months. (Photo by Idris Mohammed/AFP via Getty Images)

New Delhi: The ignominious end to India's glorious domestic record has forced the cricket-mad nation to grapple with the reality it has long feared – that the end may be near for aging legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Through three World Cup titles, two World Test Championship (WTC) finals and a 12-year Test series winning streak on home soil, Kohli and Sharma, often together, have been integral to every major Indian success of the last 17 years .

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Both of them quit T20 Internationals after the World Cup win in the West Indies earlier this year and their comebacks fell short test cricket is a big concern before traveling to India Australia For a bumper series of five test matches.
India will be hoping to avoid a rare whitewash in the third Test new zealand Fans are hoping that from Friday, captain Rohit and batting mainstay Kohli will score some runs before flying to Australia.
Opener Rohit, a free-scoring and prolific batsman at his peak, helped India to its first two series wins in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21, with six single-digit returns in his last eight Test innings and There is only one half-century.
Considered one of the great batsmen of the modern game, Kohli has scored only two centuries in the last five years and only two fifties in his last 12 innings in the longest format.
The right-handed batsman's average has fallen to 48.31 and his struggles against left-arm spin – he lost to New Zealand's Mitchell Santner in both innings of the second Test – have been evident.
“Virat Kohli's Test record against spin in the last two-three years has not been good,” his former Indian teammate Dinesh Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Kohli looked disappointed after being bowled by a brilliant full toss from Santner in the first innings in Pune, as if he was remembering how in his prime he would have sent the ball sharply across the boundary.
“It's obviously a recurring pattern where (left-arm) spinners have troubled him, and I think he will go and find out what he needs to do to get stronger,” Karthik said.
“He's a guy who's looking for answers.”
However, it is not just Rohit and Kohli who have fallen short, as India's usually strong and deep batting has been a major disappointment in the two Test matches against New Zealand.
After a disappointing 46 in Bengaluru and a modest 146 in Pune, their failure to put a good score on the board in the first innings meant that a comeback in any Test was a tough task. India have a slight lead over Australia in the WTC standings and another defeat in Mumbai would mean they have to win four out of five Test matches to reach their third consecutive final.
The next few months may also decide whether Kohli, who turns 36 next week, and Rohit, who is a year older, can continue their Test careers.


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