New Delhi, This Saturday afternoon in Barbados, no Indian fan would want Rohit Sharma dragging his jaded body towards the dugout trying to hide a tear coming from the corner of his eye.
No Indian fan would ever want to see Virat Kohli's vacant stare at the podium where the coveted ODI World Cup trophy rested exactly seven months and 10 days ago.
What they would surely want is to see the two greats perform a memorable tango probably in their 'Last Dance' in the shortest format of the game, at least in Indian colours.
If one understands the drift of the Indian cricket ecosystem, be it the BCCI mandarins or the national selectors, they want the troika of Kohli, Rohit and also Ravindra Jadeja to emerge from the format on top.
This is because next month's Zimbabwe series would certainly usher in a new dawn considering the 2026 T20 World Cup in India.
To prepare for any world trophy, the core needs to be finalized two years in advance and in 2026, a 39-year-old Rohit or a nearly 38-year-old Kohli or even Jadeja is unlikely to fit.
At this point, with the focus firmly on the final, no one wants to use the sensitive 'R' word when it comes to T20Is, but it is believed that if India can beat South Africa in Barbados on Saturday, both captain Rohit and Kohli would know that in this format there is nothing left for them to achieve.
There may or may not be a formal announcement as they would continue to be a part of IPL where they are still two of the biggest brands apart from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and non-cricketer Shah Rukh Khan.
For Kohli, it will be the completion of a cycle with all three ICC white-ball trophies (2011 ODI World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy) in his cabinet.
Just as Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara decided immediately after beating India in the 2014 T20 World Cup final that they would both abandon the shorter format, it is not known if the two greats would do something similar.
Kohli and Rohit, the two generational talents with 8334 T20I runs, six centuries, 69 fifties and 119 catches between them are the ultimate bridge between the old and the new and both deserve to be in the same frame with that trophy in their hands.
Both are World Cup champions, but those two victories belonged much more to the Dhonis, Sachin Tendulkars and Yuvraj Singhs. This trophy would rightfully belong to them.
Champions have egos: some have them quite pronounced, while few keep them hidden.
You could measure the pain in Kohli's eyes after his elimination against England and if anyone wants to rule out the 'King' from the final, he should do so at his own risk.
For Rohit, if one wants to summarize November 19, 2023, the appropriate coinage would be Sudhir Mishra's 1996 cult classic 'Is Raat Ki Subaah Nahi'.
Even if he claims that he has moved on, that the wounds have healed, he would still be eager to get closure.
It can be said with some degree of certainty that if India had won the 2023 ODI World Cup, Rohit would not have been desperate to play this edition of the T20 World Cup.
He wants some kind of closure when it comes to the white ball world triumph. A T20 World Cup win would give him that.
His popularity is organic. Dhoni was "Mahi bhai" to his young girls, a man they revered. Kohli earned respect with his tremendous achievements on the field. But Rohit receives pure love, both from his colleagues and from his young women.
No wonder Ravichandran Ashwin chokes up while narrating how the captain asked one of the team's physiotherapists to accompany the spinner to Chennai after his mother had a health scare and that too in the middle of a football match. proof.
They have seen the ups and downs of Indian cricket together for over a decade.
They arrived when the Nokia 3310 was all the rage and in their twilight zone, they witness the change in the nature of the fandom: one in three Android phone owners is a 'Viratian' or a 'Rohitian'.
Fortunately for Rohit and Kohli, there is nothing more to prove.
If Saturday is indeed their 'Last Dance' in T20Is, the void will be difficult to fill not only in terms of quality but also, and perhaps more so, emotionally.
No Indian fan would ever want to see Virat Kohli's vacant stare at the podium where the coveted ODI World Cup trophy rested exactly seven months and 10 days ago.
What they would surely want is to see the two greats perform a memorable tango probably in their 'Last Dance' in the shortest format of the game, at least in Indian colours.
If one understands the drift of the Indian cricket ecosystem, be it the BCCI mandarins or the national selectors, they want the troika of Kohli, Rohit and also Ravindra Jadeja to emerge from the format on top.
This is because next month's Zimbabwe series would certainly usher in a new dawn considering the 2026 T20 World Cup in India.
To prepare for any world trophy, the core needs to be finalized two years in advance and in 2026, a 39-year-old Rohit or a nearly 38-year-old Kohli or even Jadeja is unlikely to fit.
At this point, with the focus firmly on the final, no one wants to use the sensitive 'R' word when it comes to T20Is, but it is believed that if India can beat South Africa in Barbados on Saturday, both captain Rohit and Kohli would know that in this format there is nothing left for them to achieve.
There may or may not be a formal announcement as they would continue to be a part of IPL where they are still two of the biggest brands apart from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and non-cricketer Shah Rukh Khan.
For Kohli, it will be the completion of a cycle with all three ICC white-ball trophies (2011 ODI World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy) in his cabinet.
Just as Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara decided immediately after beating India in the 2014 T20 World Cup final that they would both abandon the shorter format, it is not known if the two greats would do something similar.
Kohli and Rohit, the two generational talents with 8334 T20I runs, six centuries, 69 fifties and 119 catches between them are the ultimate bridge between the old and the new and both deserve to be in the same frame with that trophy in their hands.
Both are World Cup champions, but those two victories belonged much more to the Dhonis, Sachin Tendulkars and Yuvraj Singhs. This trophy would rightfully belong to them.
Champions have egos: some have them quite pronounced, while few keep them hidden.
You could measure the pain in Kohli's eyes after his elimination against England and if anyone wants to rule out the 'King' from the final, he should do so at his own risk.
For Rohit, if one wants to summarize November 19, 2023, the appropriate coinage would be Sudhir Mishra's 1996 cult classic 'Is Raat Ki Subaah Nahi'.
Even if he claims that he has moved on, that the wounds have healed, he would still be eager to get closure.
It can be said with some degree of certainty that if India had won the 2023 ODI World Cup, Rohit would not have been desperate to play this edition of the T20 World Cup.
He wants some kind of closure when it comes to the white ball world triumph. A T20 World Cup win would give him that.
His popularity is organic. Dhoni was "Mahi bhai" to his young girls, a man they revered. Kohli earned respect with his tremendous achievements on the field. But Rohit receives pure love, both from his colleagues and from his young women.
No wonder Ravichandran Ashwin chokes up while narrating how the captain asked one of the team's physiotherapists to accompany the spinner to Chennai after his mother had a health scare and that too in the middle of a football match. proof.
They have seen the ups and downs of Indian cricket together for over a decade.
They arrived when the Nokia 3310 was all the rage and in their twilight zone, they witness the change in the nature of the fandom: one in three Android phone owners is a 'Viratian' or a 'Rohitian'.
Fortunately for Rohit and Kohli, there is nothing more to prove.
If Saturday is indeed their 'Last Dance' in T20Is, the void will be difficult to fill not only in terms of quality but also, and perhaps more so, emotionally.
