Indian cricket may be moving steadily towards a new generation, but Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma remain central to how that transition is being managed. Ahead of the first ODI against West Indies, bowling coach Morne Morkel offered an intriguing insight into the role the two senior batters continue to play within the side.
With Shubman Gill now leading the team, India are consciously using Kohli and Rohit as a reservoir of experience for younger players. Their value, Morkel suggested, extends beyond performances on the field and into the conversations that shape a developing dressing room.
“It’s always great to have that experience back in the team. Just to guide Shubman as well, I must say Shubman has done an exceptional job so far leading the team,” Morkel said. “But I’m always a big believer in your senior players and how they shape the team. I think different players in the team will feel more comfortable speaking to a certain senior individual and we’re quite fortunate that we’ve got a lot of experience in that.”
For India, that experience is not being allowed to remain passive. Morkel revealed that the management is actively trying to create situations in which younger players engage with Kohli and Rohit and draw from the challenges they have encountered over long international careers.
‘Pick Virat’s brain, speak to Rohit’
“We’re quite fortunate that we’ve got that experience with the senior players and for us it’s just to keep on challenging the guys to have the conversation with the senior guys,” Morkel said. “We always throw out as many questions as possible in team meetings for the senior guys to speak and to share their experience.”
The process, however, is not restricted to structured team discussions. Morkel’s most revealing comment concerned the conversations India want younger players to initiate during training, when specific technical or tactical questions can be put directly to Kohli and Rohit.
“But the challenge is to sometimes ask a younger guy while they’re batting in the nets, pick Virat’s brain, speak to Rohit about what is important with a new ball up front,” he said. “The more opportunities we can create for conversation with these guys, it’s all great for us.”
It is an approach that makes knowledge transfer a deliberate part of India’s transition rather than something left to chance. Kohli has spent years mastering the construction of ODI innings across different situations, while Rohit’s understanding of opening the batting and negotiating the new ball has been forged across more than a decade at the highest level.
For younger players still trying to establish themselves, access to that experience can be invaluable. The significance lies not simply in listening to two celebrated seniors, but in being encouraged to interrogate how they solved problems that emerging players are only beginning to encounter.
Morkel’s comments also offer a revealing picture of India’s changing hierarchy. Gill may now be the captain and the side may increasingly belong to a younger generation, but Kohli and Rohit are hardly being pushed to the margins.
Instead, India appear determined to extract something beyond runs from their two most experienced batters. The accumulated understanding of hundreds of international matches is being treated as a resource to be passed down, one conversation at a time.