Ro-Ko Deserve To Retire When They Wish, Not When Social Media Critics Want

After the RO-KO show at the Sydney Cricket Ground, both cricketers seem determined to play on in ODIs and end their careers with a last hurrah in the 2027 ODI World Cup. The event may be two years away, which is a long time for a 38-year-old and his partner in the century stand who is only two years younger. But they will not be lacking in enthusiasm to take their bow in a significant event, which is the ICC Cup that Rohit Sharma has not won but Virat Kohli has as a young member of the Dhoni’s 2011-12 team. What they proved in their fluency and their calm methods of scoring in ODI cricket was that they know how to beat this game regardless of 17-18 years having passed since India’s win in the 2007 T20 World Cup changed the course of cricket. What they will have is the backing of the BCCI selectors who would not dare to pass judgment on their game unlike the social media and WhatsApp experts who will bay for anyone’s blood after just a duck or two as they did in Kohli’s case when he picked up the unwanted record of his first ever ducks in Australia, a country against which both Kohli and his partner have played some of their most combative performances. The simple point delivered in their success Down Under is to please leave the question of when to call halt to their ODI careers when they wish.