{"id":57031,"date":"2025-08-10T12:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57031\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T12:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:46:12","slug":"difficult-to-say-sourav-ganguly-stirs-virat-kohli-rohit-sharma-speculation-backs-india-as-hot-favourites-for-asia-cup-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57031\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Difficult to say&#8217;: Sourav Ganguly stirs Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma speculation, backs India as hot favourites for Asia Cup | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/123216575.jpg\" alt=\"'Difficult to say': Sourav Ganguly stirs Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma speculation, backs India as hot favourites for Asia Cup\" title=\"Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sourav Ganguly  (Images via Getty Images)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sourav Ganguly  (Images via Getty Images) Sourav Ganguly has weighed in on the growing chatter around <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/virat-kohli\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Virat Kohli<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/rohit-sharma\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rohit Sharma<\/a>\u2019s ODI futures, saying the two icons should keep playing as long as they continue to perform at the highest level. Media reports have suggested that the upcoming three-match ODI series in Australia this October could be the final outing in the format for the celebrated duo, who have already played their last matches in T20Is and Tests. The players themselves have so far stayed quiet on whether they are aiming for the 2027 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Greenstone Lobo predicts Virat Kohli &amp; Rohit Sharma&#8217;s ODI future<\/p>\n<p> Asked about the speculation, Ganguly maintained he had no official knowledge of such a decision. \u201cI\u2019m not aware of this, can\u2019t comment on this,\u201d he said during an event, as quoted by PTI. However, the former India captain underlined that selection and career longevity should always be driven by performance. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to say. Whoever does well will play. If they do well, they should continue. Kohli\u2019s one-day record is phenomenal, even Rohit Sharma\u2019s. Both of them are phenomenal in white-ball cricket,\u201d said the former India skipper. India\u2019s ODI tour of Australia begins on October 19, with matches in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. It will be followed by three home ODIs against South Africa in December. The 2026 calendar includes series against New Zealand, Afghanistan, England, the West Indies, and another against New Zealand. On the T20 Asia Cup in Dubai starting September 9, Ganguly said India should start as clear favourites after a well-earned break following their five-Test series in England. \u201cThey are in the middle of a break. After the IPL, they played five Tests and now they will play the Asia Cup from September 9. India are very strong, and if they are strong in red-ball cricket, they are even stronger in white-ball cricket. So, in my opinion, India are favourites, and beating them on those good Dubai wickets will be very tough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Poll<\/p>\n<p>Should Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma continue to play ODIs as long as they perform well?<\/p>\n<p> Ganguly also backed Test skipper Shubman Gill, praising the youngster\u2019s leadership qualities. \u201cHe\u2019s India\u2019s Test captain, and his future is full of promise,\u201d he remarked. The 25-year-old steered India to a thrilling win over England at The Oval in the 5th and final Test of the series to draw the competition 2-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sourav Ganguly (Images via Getty Images) Sourav Ganguly has weighed in on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[31066,1721,31070,31065,31069,31064,18856,31068,31063,101,56,54,55,15624,31067],"class_list":{"0":"post-57031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-asia-cup-india","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-ind-aus-odi","11":"tag-india-vs-australia-odi-series","12":"tag-kohli-rohit-last-odi","13":"tag-odi-cricket","14":"tag-rohit-sharma","15":"tag-rohit-sharma-last-odi","16":"tag-sourav-ganguly","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom","21":"tag-virat-kohli","22":"tag-virat-kohli-last-odi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}