When the Indian team takes on New Zealand in Indore today, Sunday, January 18th, in the final match of the three-match ODI series, all eyes will once again be on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. This is because, for the next five months, you won’t see Ro-Ko, or Rohit and Kohli, playing cricket together for the same team.
Virat and Rohit are set for a long break
If you’re a fan of these two great players, then find out the reason behind why they’re both going to be away from international cricket for five months. In fact, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are currently active only in One Day International cricket. They retired from T20 International cricket after winning the T20 World Cup final in June 2024, while they retired from Test cricket during IPL 2025. Consequently, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are only playing together in One Day International cricket.
Since today, January 18th, the match against New Zealand is the Indian cricket team’s last ODI until mid-June, it will also be Virat and Rohit’s last international match for the next five months. Team India will then play a T20 series and then the T20 World Cup, where both cannot play.
After this, all Team India players will be busy with IPL 2026, which runs until the end of May. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will play in the IPL, but they are part of different teams, so they will not be seen together in the same team. However, you can definitely find them together on the same field when the Mumbai Indians vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore match takes place.
Next ODI series of Team India
Team India’s next ODI series, a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, begins in the third week of June. We will see these two legends together again in that series. After this, they could play nearly two dozen international matches until the 2027 ODI World Cup.
