Will Rohit's 2027 World Cup future be decided after IPL 2026? Is Shubman really the best bet as captain ?

[Ultimate_Game]

56 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

That SA vs Ind Odi series was 2 experimental sides playing each other it was a slow an low scoring series.

And when Ind got a ~300 target they were bowled out  under 225 , think Sai scored less than 15 runs

 

And if that series was the bench mark then Avesh should be in next wc playing 11 he was the 2nd highest wkt taker over all with 6 wkts.

And all Sai scored was 120-130 runs in 3 match series.

 

In odi wc heavy lifting has to be done by exp. players and younger players need to chip in with impt contributions. 

 

Its a tournament where you need players who have exp. to taking truck loads of wkts and batter who can hit tons after tons. 

 

Here is the list of most runs and wkts in last 6 Odi world cups , its not where rookies plays major role. you need ppl who been there and done that.

The reason why there is no point in dropping rohit and kolhi is because Ind didnt give any1 else much chances , there was no batter who was developed keeping in mind of the Odi wc

 

 

World Cup	Most Runs	Runs	Most Wickets	Wickets
2023	Virat Kohli	765	Mohammed Shami	24
2019	Rohit Sharma	648	Mitchell Starc	27
2015	Martin Guptill	547	Mitchell Starc	22
2011	Tillakaratne Dilshan	500	Zaheer Khan	21
2007	Matthew Hayden	659	Glenn McGrath	26
2003	Sachin Tendulkar	673	Chaminda Vaas	23

 

 

There has to be a balance and lot of factors considered...

 

1. We can't go with 3 players touching 40. Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja are pushing 40. That's too many. Jadeja should be dropped and ideally only one of Rohit or Kohli be part of the team. It can be Rohit or Kohli - I'm not hung on it but we can't carry so many almost 40 year olds.

 

2. Lack of left-handers. Our top order currently is Gill, Rohit, Kohli, Iyer, KL Rahul, Pandya. We've seen in LOIs that having lefties during the batting order helps a lot. That's why I want Jaiswal, Sai or even Ishan to be part of the top order. Since Gill is the captain he won't be dropped (I would've preferred Iyer as captain and Gill not part of LOIs). But if we go with 6 righties in the top order bowlers will tie us up or will find it easier to manage matchups. You need a bit more diversity and at least a couple of lefties to break the monopoly.

 

[tapandrun]

15 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

There has to be a balance and lot of factors considered...

 

1. We can't go with 3 players touching 40. Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja are pushing 40. That's too many. Jadeja should be dropped and ideally only one of Rohit or Kohli be part of the team. It can be Rohit or Kohli - I'm not hung on it but we can't carry so many almost 40 year olds.

 

2. Lack of left-handers. Our top order currently is Gill, Rohit, Kohli, Iyer, KL Rahul, Pandya. We've seen in LOIs that having lefties during the batting order helps a lot. That's why I want Jaiswal, Sai or even Ishan to be part of the top order. Since Gill is the captain he won't be dropped (I would've preferred Iyer as captain and Gill not part of LOIs). But if we go with 6 righties in the top order bowlers will tie us up or will find it easier to manage matchups. You need a bit more diversity and at least a couple of lefties to break the monopoly.

 

 

Axar is going to replace Jadeja. As for kolhi and Rohit as they dint retire right after WC-23 and played CT it was clear they are going to play the next world-cup too.

They dint develop any1 else and as posted Odi wc is not for rookies, there is no point in pulling jaiswal in top order when he has not played any Odi cricket and there is no tournament like format that he has played.

 

Have posted regarding the issue where whole the batting line is filled with Rh batters the solution here is to bring verma/sundar in the side, if Gill is the captain then top 5+1 are fixed .

 

 

Here is a sol. posted in this thread previously :::

 

 

The idea should be both Rohit and Kolhi are locked for this wc, and if they are locked they will not be dropped from the playing 11 in any condition.

And from here the ideal choice for captain will be either Kolhi or rohit, this now gives bit of space where they can have LH batter in the side i.e. jaiswal and gill gets dropped frm the 15. And now in place of verma you can look for other options

 

Here are the constraints that this Ind teams have and with this there is no space. Have posted a possible 15 with some wildcard selections and tactical moves because of the limitations 

 

 

• Top 5 locked :::: Gill, Rohit, Kolhi, KL, Iyer

• Backup opener + keeper :: Ishan Kishan/Rutu

• 5 front-line seamers :: Bhumrah, Siraj, Arshadeep, RamaKrishna Gosh, Ashok/Mayank

• 1–2 spinners :: Kuldeep, Axar

• Hardik Pandya included

• Overs coverage guaranteed

Added verma to 15 for a middle order LH batter, wildcards : Gosh, Ashok/Mayank 

 

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

22 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

Axar is going to replace Jadeja. As for kolhi and Rohit as they dint retire right after WC-23 and played CT it was clear they are going to play the next world-cup too.

They dint develop any1 else and as posted Odi wc is not for rookies, there is no point in pulling jaiswal in top order when he has not played any Odi cricket and there is no tournament like format that he has played.

 

Have posted regarding the issue where whole the batting line is filled with Rh batters the solution here is to bring verma/sundar in the side, if Gill is the captain then top 5+1 are fixed .

 

 

Here is a sol. posted in this thread previously :::

 

 

The idea should be both Rohit and Kolhi are locked for this wc, and if they are locked they will not be dropped from the playing 11 in any condition.

And from here the ideal choice for captain will be either Kolhi or rohit, this now gives bit of space where they can have LH batter in the side i.e. jaiswal and gill gets dropped frm the 15. And now in place of verma you can look for other options

 

Here are the constraints that this Ind teams have and with this there is no space. Have posted a possible 15 with some wildcard selections and tactical moves because of the limitations 

 

 

• Top 5 locked :::: Gill, Rohit, Kolhi, KL, Iyer

• Backup opener + keeper :: Ishan Kishan/Rutu

• 5 front-line seamers :: Bhumrah, Siraj, Arshadeep, RamaKrishna Gosh, Ashok/Mayank

• 1–2 spinners :: Kuldeep, Axar

• Hardik Pandya included

• Overs coverage guaranteed

Added verma to 15 for a middle order LH batter, wildcards : Gosh, Ashok/Mayank 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 need to be changed. We need a leftie as an opener and another one in the top 5. There's a reason why Shaheen and other left arm pacers don't trouble us in T20s coz we have lefties who don't face the same problem the right-handers do. Also, it makes opponent bowlers struggle to find the right line & length. We've seen lefties at the top helps us get off to a start. 5-6 righties makes batting look more of the same.

 

This is where Gambhir and Agarkar needs to play their role. That top order looks so jaded and needs an injection of youth. I would like to see Jaiswal open with either Sai or Tilak in the top order. Our batting order looks so old and with eternal failures like Gill and KL Rahul I don't see how we would win in SA.

[tapandrun]

On 3/11/2026 at 4:42 PM, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Top 5 need to be changed. We need a leftie as an opener and another one in the top 5. There's a reason why Shaheen and other left arm pacers don't trouble us in T20s coz we have lefties who don't face the same problem the right-handers do. Also, it makes opponent bowlers struggle to find the right line & length. We've seen lefties at the top helps us get off to a start. 5-6 righties makes batting look more of the same.

 

This is where Gambhir and Agarkar needs to play their role. That top order looks so jaded and needs an injection of youth. I would like to see Jaiswal open with either Sai or Tilak in the top order. Our batting order looks so old and with eternal failures like Gill and KL Rahul I don't see how we would win in SA.

Whats your realistic 15 member team?

 

Sai has just played 3 Odi games thats it and whatever he did in tests does not give anykind of confidence that he can play a test/Odi wc full strength bowling line-ups.

 

The solution is only if they are ready to remove Gill from Odi team and add Jaiswal and at this point its about hoping he performs because the 3 games he played he looke out of touch and in last game was visibly playing for himself.

 

Verma/Sundar are options and on paper Sundar's inclusion gives more confidence than verma just because including sundar in playing 11 gives a bowling option and he has done well in test and has ability to play long innings (based on his ability to play long innings in tests).

 

If Gill is locked as captain only person that loses their place (if they do) is Iyer , but iyer is needed he is the only one with ability to play at  high tempo in this side.

Considering all the limitations and conditions here is a playing 11 ::

 

Playing 11:

Gill -- He is locked 

Rohit -- He is locked

Kolhi -- He is locked

Sai -- LH batter in mo + gives you 5-6 overs in the middle /can open as well if Gill is ready to bat #4 

Iyer-- Hitter and some1 who can up the tempo in mo without musk risk taking

KL-- Primary keeper he is locked 

Pandaya-- Seam bowling allrounder

Axar-- Spin bowling allrounder and can be sent as floater

Gosh/Nabi/Chahar-- This is a wildcard not sure who that is but a seamer who can bat <-- they can be tactically be replaced by some 145+ kmph bowler Ashok in games at fast bowler friendly venues or by spinner in Zim/Nmba

Siraj--Pacer 

Bhumrah--Pacer

 

On Bench

Kishan --2nd wk and opener

Kuldeep/Bishnoi-- spinner

Ashok/mayank  --- some 1 with ability to bowl 145+ kmph 

Arshdeep-- LA Pacer

 

 

Playing 11 has 6 legit bowling options , on bench there a wk+opnener , 1 attacking spinner ,2 pacers

 

The only issue here is this playing 11 or even 15 middle order lacks high sr batting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13 by tapandrun

[Ultimate_Game]

33 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Whats your realistic 15 member team?

 

Sai has just played 3 Odi games thats it and whatever he did in tests does not give anykind of confidence that he can play a test/Odi wc full strength bowling line-ups.

 

The solution is only if they are ready to remove Gill from Odi team and add Jaiswal and at this point its about hoping he performs because the 3 games he played he looke out of touch and in last game was visibly playing for himself.

 

Verma/Sundar are options and on paper Sundar's inclusion gives more confidence than verma just because including sundar in playing 11 gives a bowling option and he has done well in test and has ability to play long innings (based on his ability to play long innings in tests).

 

If Gill is locked as captain only person that loses their place (if they do) is Iyer , but iyer is needed he is the only one with ability to play at  high tempo in this side.

Considering all the limitations and conditions here is a playing 11 ::

 

Playing 11:

Gill -- He is locked 

Rohit -- He is locked

Kolhi -- He is locked

Sundar -- LH batter in mo + gives you 5-6 overs in the middle

Iyer-- Hitter and some1 who can up the tempo in mo without musk risk taking

KL-- Primary keeper he is locked 

Pandaya-- Seam bowling allrounder

Axar-- Spin bowling allrounder and can be sent as floater

Gosh/Nabi/Chahar-- This is a wildcard not sure who that is but a seamer who can bat <-- they can be tactically be replaced by some 145+ kmph bowler Ashok in games at fast bowler friendly venues or by spinner in Zim/Nmba

Siraj--Pacer 

Bhumrah--Pacer

 

On Bench

Kishan --2nd wk and opener

Kuldeep/Bishnoi-- spinner

Ashok/mayank  --- some 1 with ability to bowl 145+ kmph 

Arshdeep-- LA Pacer

 

 

Playing 11 has 6 legit bowling options , on bench there a wk+opnener , 1 attacking spinner ,2 pacers

 

The only issue here is this playing 11 or even 15 middle order lacks high sr batting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My ideal team would be...

 

Jaiswal

Rohit/Gill (pick one)

Sai/Tilak/Kohli (my preference is Sai or Tilak, especially if Rohit is picked)

Iyer

Axar

Ishan (wk) (Prefer Ishan as wk over Samson lower down the order; KL Rahul is another option but he's not someone you can rely on)

Pandya

Parag/Nitish Reddy/any pace all-rounder

Harshit/Arshdeep/any form pacer

Bumrah

Specialist pacer (if seam friendly) or Kuldeep/Varun C (if it's flat or spin-friendly pitch)

 

Selectors will need to make sure there's some young blood in that batting lineup and also a mix of right & left handers. And they need to make sure we bat till 8 - that's the formula which works for us. If we add more bowlers, it comes back to bite us in knockouts. All our 3 ICC tourneys over the last 2 years have come with the combination of batting depth till 8 and we need to continue with that approach. We've finally cracked the formula and let's stick to it.

 

P.S. - Need to stay away from Sundar as he's not a LOI player. Not a good enough bowler and a poor LOI batter. He's a poor version of Jadeja and his best format is Tests. And not a big fan of Siraj in LOIs either. He's way too wayward and goes for easy runs.

Edited March 11 by Ultimate_Game

[tapandrun]

38 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

My ideal team would be...

 

Jaiswal

Rohit/Gill (pick one)

Sai/Tilak/Kohli (my preference is Sai or Tilak, especially if Rohit is picked)

Iyer

Axar

Ishan (wk) (Prefer Ishan as wk over Samson lower down the order; KL Rahul is another option but he's not someone you can rely on)

Pandya

Parag/Nitish Reddy/any pace all-rounder

Harshit/Arshdeep/any form pacer

Bumrah

Specialist pacer (if seam friendly) or Kuldeep/Varun C (if it's flat or spin-friendly pitch)

 

Selectors will need to make sure there's some young blood in that batting lineup and also a mix of right & left handers. And they need to make sure we bat till 8 - that's the formula which works for us. If we add more bowlers, it comes back to bite us in knockouts. All our 3 ICC tourneys over the last 2 years have come with the combination of batting depth till 8 and we need to continue with that approach. We've finally cracked the formula and let's stick to it.

 

P.S. - Need to stay away from Sundar as he's not a LOI player. Not a good enough bowler and a poor LOI batter. He's a poor version of Jadeja and his best format is Tests. And not a big fan of Siraj in LOIs either. He's way too wayward and goes for easy runs.

 

 

this is not a tournament side, only 1 world class bowler in bhumrah.

Jaiswal+Rohit+Sai top3 ??-- jaiswal (Matches: : 4, 1 ton, total odi run under 200 ), Sai (Matches :: 3, 0 tons, total Odi run under 150)

Ishan ::matches 27, 1 ton total odi runs under 1000.

Parag :: Matches 1, 0 ton, total 15 odi runs.

 

This is more like an experimental/development side than an icc event side. Even on current form kolhi and Rohit are top 2 Odi batters. And currently kolhi is ranked #2 and Rohit is ranked #4 batters in Odi and they have played only vs full strength opp. 

 

And with all their mental ability or lack of it KL is ranked 10 and Gill is #5

 

 

Kolhi is still not only best Ind odi batter but best fielder 

 

 

Yes complete second that Sundar should not be in LOi side, but there is no LH middle order batter that can bowl 5-6 overs, why tilak is not an option---He does not have game for Odi cricket , it was evident in this t20i wc, he can not get 4s just by driving along the ground, he gets stuck when he in not intentionally trying to attack.

 

 

Let nt get carried away with t20is and recency bias

 

 

 

 

 

[Zero_Unit]

GG is a salty mofo. If you tell him that the selectors are thinking about selecting him for the national side again, bro will drop everything to play in the playing 11. Will still sheet talk rohit/kohli. Also T20 and ODI is a different ball game. You still need these two one last time, just for the experience alone

Edited March 11 by Zero_Unit

[tapandrun]

 

 

On 3/11/2026 at 5:40 PM, Ultimate_Game said:

 

My ideal team would be...

 

Jaiswal

Rohit/Gill (pick one)

Sai/Tilak/Kohli (my preference is Sai or Tilak, especially if Rohit is picked)

Iyer

Axar

Ishan (wk) (Prefer Ishan as wk over Samson lower down the order; KL Rahul is another option but he's not someone you can rely on)

Pandya

Parag/Nitish Reddy/any pace all-rounder

Harshit/Arshdeep/any form pacer

Bumrah

Specialist pacer (if seam friendly) or Kuldeep/Varun C (if it's flat or spin-friendly pitch)

 

Selectors will need to make sure there's some young blood in that batting lineup and also a mix of right & left handers. And they need to make sure we bat till 8 - that's the formula which works for us. If we add more bowlers, it comes back to bite us in knockouts. All our 3 ICC tourneys over the last 2 years have come with the combination of batting depth till 8 and we need to continue with that approach. We've finally cracked the formula and let's stick to it.

 

P.S. - Need to stay away from Sundar as he's not a LOI player. Not a good enough bowler and a poor LOI batter. He's a poor version of Jadeja and his best format is Tests. And not a big fan of Siraj in LOIs either. He's way too wayward and goes for easy runs.

Yes updated my side to remove sundar added sai , gives flexibility of an available opener if gill is ready to play #4

[Strangering]

RoKo are a lock for 2027 world cup. 

[Ultimate_Game]

8 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

 

 

Yes updated my side to remove sundar added sai , gives flexibility of an available opener if gill is ready to play #4

 

Gill is not a no. 4 in ODIs. Either he plays in top 3 or he doesn't get into the team.

[vvvslaxman]

Do we have a list of Gill's performance in crunch games? He has played a few tests well. But in LOIs?

[Ultimate_Game]

9 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Do we have a list of Gill's performance in crunch games? He has played a few tests well. But in LOIs?

 

Total failure in big matches and there's enough sample size now. The whole 2023 ODI WC, 2025 CT, 2026 Asia Cup final etc. In fact other than the Gabba Test in 2021, he has failed in all of the big matches.

[vvvslaxman]

3 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Total failure in big matches and there's enough sample size now. The whole 2023 ODI WC, 2025 CT, 2026 Asia Cup final etc. In fact other than the Gabba Test in 2021, he has failed in all of the big matches.

Ya.. i am trying to remember his performance in  a must win game. I can't think of one.  Even Sai Sudarshan has done better than him in those matches

[Ultimate_Game]

3 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Ya.. i am trying to remember his performance in  a must win game. I can't think of one.  Even Sai Sudarshan has done better than him in those matches

 

Sai is a huge upgrade over him and I would bat Sai at 3 unless Tilak out-performs him.

[vvvslaxman]

We played this guy in world cup final

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

We played this guy in world cup final

 

 

 

That's on the selectors who went for this guy instead of much better options available. And it's not just ODIs, SKY has sucked even in T20s against betetr bowling attacks.