Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik believes that white ball great Rohit Sharma should be a part of the Men in Blue's squad for the ODI World Cup 2027, which will be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Karthik, who was a part of Rohit Sharma-led India's T20 World Cup 2022 squad, believes that the 38-year-old still has an unfulfilled dream, and that is winning the ODI World Cup.
Karthik further stated Rohit's journey in ODI World Cups, where he missed the spot in the 2011 squad. After that, he scored 648 and 597 in his two World Cup outings in 2019 and 2023, respectively.
"Rohit Sharma has achieved everything in his cricketing career, but there is one unfulfilled dream: the 50-over World Cup. That's a dream he's been chasing since he started playing cricket. In 2011, they didn't pick him in the squad. In 2019 and 2023, what two campaigns he had. In 648, he scored 597 runs in the 2023 World Cup, and at the end of it, he said he just didn't have anything else left in him, and he couldn't actually believe that they lost that World Cup" said Dinesh Karthik on a video in 'X'.
Why BCCI should consider Rohit for the 2027 ODI World Cup?
Karthik further stated that Rohit has guided India to the T20 World Cup win in 2024, but that doesn't fulfil him much as it would if he won this 50-over World Cup. He advised the BCCI to be very aware of what he can bring to the table in multinational tournaments.
"Burning desire, that fire, that hunger is what has driven him so far to play the sport. Yes, he achieved the win of the 2024 T20 World Cup, but that didn't fulfil him as much as it would if he won this 50-over World Cup. And that's the reason why India should be very aware of what he can bring to the table. Because in every multi-national tournament, he has brought something that is immense in value. The start of the attitude and the belief of what it takes to win in those big moments" added Karthik
How will Rohit Sharma help Gill in captaincy?
The 40-year-old cricketer turned commentator believes that former ODI captain Rohit Shama will make things comfortable for the new captain, Shubman Gill, in the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia. Notably, Rohit, who captained India in their last ODI assignment during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, has been replaced by Gill before the Australia series.
"Now, in his career, this will be a very interesting series, the Australian ODI series that they're going for purely because dynamics have changed. He has a young captain in Shubman Gill, whom I am sure he needs to take care of at various points of time during this journey of reaching that 2027 World Cup in South Africa. The one thing you can be assured of is knowing the man that he will do everything it takes to make Shubhman Gill feel comfortable and, most importantly, give him the right sort of advice when it matters most. Now we have seen how much he values being part of this team" added Karthik.
The three-match ODI series between India and Australia is scheduled to start from October 19. Rohit has already started sweating out in the nets for the upcoming assignment.
India’s ODI squad against Australia
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.