'It becomes very difficult...': India's World Cup winning star drops bombshell on Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma's 2027 ODI World Cup dream

India ODI captain Rohit Sharma and batting maestro Virat Kohli have announced T20I retirements after guiding the team to the T20 World Cup 2024 title in Barbados. The trophy ended India's 11-year-old ICC title drought. Later, the duo also hung up their boots from the longest format of the game in May earlier this year, before the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.

After announcing their retirement from two formats, both Virat and Rohit are still active in ODIs and aim to play the ODI World Cup in 2027 and help India clinch the trophy. However, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh feels that it will be quite difficult for them to play in the prestigious ICC tournament.

Harbhajan believes that after retiring from two formats, it becomes difficult to maintain a good performance, especially for a tournament like the World Cup.

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"It's too far, actually. It's been a very long time, and they are not playing any other formats. It becomes very difficult for anyone, no matter how much commitment you have or how big a great you are," Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.

"If you do not play the game continuously, somewhere the game moves ahead and you are left behind," he added.

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He also cited the example of former India captain MS Dhoni, who did not feature in international cricket after India's heartbreaking defeat in the 2019 World Cup final. Harbhajan also called out the wicketkeeper batter's batting struggles in the IPL.

"It will be hard. We have seen MS Dhoni playing in the IPL. Look at his performance in the last three years," he said.

You see the difference between this Dhoni and the Dhoni from six years ago when he was playing for India consistently," Harbhajan added.

Rohit and Virat's last international outing came during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, where unbeaten India defeated New Zealand in the final at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai to clinch the title. The duo's last Test assignment came in Australia during the five-Test match series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia.