Quick Quiz: Since the first T20 World Cup in 2007, how many players who played only ODI cricket have been part of a 50-over World Cup-winning team? Answer: None. In 2027, in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, Rohit and Kohli would love to change that. Assuming of course they will be selected. Having retired from Tests and T20Is, he now occupies an interesting place: big names, shrinking playing time. That is why this IPL is so important. This is his most visible audition. If both are to convince team management and a selection panel that is becoming increasingly ruthless and pragmatic, they need to perform over the next eight weeks. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru respectively. This may sound dramatic. After all, few players have achieved more. But the road to the 2027 ODI World Cup will not be paved with fame or old highlights. It will depend on current form and fitness. Both remain in conversation, with the captain Shabman Gul And others indicate more. The tough question is whether they can last that long. For Rohit, who will turn 39 on April 30, and Kohli, now 37, the IPL is a fitness test and a batting test. Both are now cricketers of one format. Both must show they can withstand a longer, more intense campaign and still be standing in 2027. Fitness, though, is only half the problem. Shape, that agile friend, is another. Ask any Indian cricketer what they fear the most and the answer is simple: out of sight, out of mind. That is what makes this IPL so important for Rohit and Kohli. It puts them back in the limelight after the heroes of India’s T20 World Cup triumph grabbed the public’s attention. ODIs are increasingly rare. India last played a five-match ODI series in February–March 2019. For single format players, a bad series can mean a long wait for a second chance. This gap hurts the batsmen the most: the rhythm fades, the sharpness of the match slows and every failure feels terminal. For them, every crucial IPL innings will be read as proof — or lack thereof — that Rohit and Kohli are still moving well, reacting strongly and meeting the demands of high-level ODI cricket. And unlike the IPL, there is no impact substitution in ODIs, the ultimate safety valve for slow movers. It’s a seven-hour endurance test. Slow analysis has led us to hyphenate the careers of Rohit and Kohli. Abbreviations like the nauseating “Ro-Ko” only reinforced this. Still, the stakes are high for Rohit. His ODI legacy remains intact but age and character are now at the center of debate, especially with Gill having younger opening options available who offer more athletic value in the field. Legions of fans have chalked up Rohit’s loose outs as intent. His 20s and 30s were hailed as selflessness. But bad habits become more stubborn with age. They also bled into his Test game, hastening both his technical decline and his eventual exit from the format. This IPL, selectors and coaches Gautam Gambhir Will watch it closely. Can Rohit start with intent, pull quality pace without losing form, run hard, field effectively and maintain acceptable fitness through a long campaign? He crossed the 500-run mark in an IPL season only once in 2013. Another midseason and quiet grumbling could turn into tough decisions. Remember that his last three ODI scores were 3, 11 and 24. Kohli’s case is different. He has been one of the white-ball batsmen of his generation and one of the great athletic specimens of the Indian game. What he is now chasing is not excellence but constant relevance. Against South Africa and New Zealand, he showed more willingness to strike early, finding boundaries within his first 10 balls. He suggested adaptation. Kohli had already mastered low-risk collections in ODIs. Now he has decorated it with constant haste. This matters in the IPL, where strike rates and impact make or break the narrative. Kohli will want to show that he can still dominate key bowlers and adapt to the demands of the modern game. If he can combine control with carnage, his case remains strong. He has 11 IPL seasons of over 400 runs and while many came at a strike rate in the mid-120s, it has gone above 140 in each of his last three seasons. Last year, batting first, he had a strike rate of 147.8, which was higher than his strike rate while chasing, 142.18. Since 2025, his ODI strike rate is 98.45, higher than his career mark of 93.41. Kohli also knows that when senior players try to stretch themselves in the second round of the World Cup, selectors judge more than numbers. They are looking for hunger, energy and intention. The IPL, played under relentless scrutiny and offering quick, unforgiving public judgment, is the perfect stage for such tests. The league has quickly become the selection filter in India across all formats – sometimes, disturbingly, even for Tests. For Rohit and Kohli, this season is more than a tournament. This is their ticket to compatibility.
