With just 12 months to go until the next ODI World Cup, all eyes will be on senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as the team gets ready to compete in the upcoming three-match series against the West Indies. In 2025, the outgoing chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said the duo was non-committal about playing in the tournament.

Both players have been spearheading the batting department for close to two decades now. Ahead of the ODI series, Virat confirmed that the 2027 World Cup will be his last. Rohit, on the other hand, has unfinished business.

Speaking to JioStar, Kohli said, “It is the last World Cup I am going to play for India, and that’s my biggest motivation. I want to leave everything for the event. My biggest goal is to win the World Cup, and I will be ready for whatever it takes.” The right-handed batter currently has 14,541 runs and will become the second man after Sachin Tendulkar to scale 15,000 runs in the fifty-over format.

While speaking about the intensity of the tournament, the RCB star said, “The intensity of the World Cup is higher than anything else. It is 10 times more than that in a T20 game, and to maintain the same intensity in a tournament which has more than ten games and that too in a World Cup, is a huge deal, and also playing in foreign conditions takes a lot out of you.”

Rohit eyes unfinished business in 2027

In 2023, cameras panned towards Rohit, who was heartbroken after losing to Australia in the final. Those moments still haunt Indian cricket fans, but Rohit himself has said that he still has to achieve something, and he views the World Cup as unfinished business.

In his chat with JioStar, the39-year-old said: “There is always something to look forward to while you are still playing, and personally I am looking forward to the World Cup. I am also looking at what lies ahead in front of me.”

“When a tournament like the World Cup is played, or we play an ICC tournament, it presents its own set of challenges. You play different opponents and play in different venues, which in itself is a challenge, so the preparation and thought process has to be different, which is a challenge.”

The upcoming West Indies series will give both players a chance to give the cricket fans an opportunity to watch the two mega stars.