India batting great Virat Kohli has spoken on record about his long-standing talks with former skipper Rohit Sharma. According to him, both of them have been sharing ideas on how Indian cricket can be taken forward. The two senior batsmen have been having discussions on various aspects of the game during their captaincies in the past.

The India skipper spoke to JioStar ahead of the first ODI against West Indies and shared what he and Rohit used to discuss during their talkative sessions. He said, “I used to discuss a lot of things with him (Rohit) when he was captain. Later, when he started captaining the team, I would give my input to him.”

Virat Kohli reveals how his conversations with Rohit Sharma have evolved

“When you have played for so long, and you have been in leadership positions respectively for India, the goal is always that, as a senior player, you would bounce things off your captain,” Virat Kohli told JioStar.

“In the same way, when I became captain, I would bounce a lot of ideas off him. And MS equally, because he had just stepped down. And similarly for Rohit, when he became captain, he would bounce ideas off me as well. So, the conversations have always been about how to take the Indian team forward.

Kohli explained how such discussions become even more detailed as a major tournament approaches. With the 2027 ODI World Cup on the horizon, he said the focus shifts towards identifying smaller areas for improvement and addressing them quickly.

“But of course, when the World Cup comes closer, then you're also looking to tighten things a lot more and streamline small little things; you go into more intense, more detailed conversations of how can we get a particular right immediately, correct it and utilize it in the next game.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have shared the Indian dressing room across multiple leadership eras. Kohli took over as India's Test captain in late 2014 before taking over the limited-overs captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2017, and Rohit was later appointed India's all-format captain in 2022.

Both have now entered a new phase of their international careers after retiring from Test and T20I cricket, continuing to represent India in ODIs with Shubman Gill currently leading the 50-over side.

Their experience is expected to be a part of India's preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup, which South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will host.

India's three-match ODI series against the West Indies begins in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday and is a part of the team's preparations for the global 50-over tournament.

Virat Kohli has scored 14,941 runs in 302 ODI innings at an average of 58.59 while scoring 54 centuries and 79 fifties, with a highest ODI score of 183.

India are also scheduled to play five ODIs in New Zealand and three against Sri Lanka later this year, before facing Zimbabwe in a three-match ODI series at the start of 2027.