Rohit Sharma can play for at least two more years, Virat Kohli may be five: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh believes that India's Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli still have a lot to offer to the national team.

Rohit and Kohli retired from T20Is after helping India win the coveted T20 World Cup title after 17 years, in 2024. However, new head coach Gautam Gambhir has mentioned that the senior duo has important roles to play in the Test and ODI arenas for the national team. Rohit is currently 37 but is still putting in some excellent performances with the bat and with impeccable consistency. Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Kohli puts tremendous emphasis on his fitness and is one of the fittest players in the world.

Harbhajan opined that Rohit can play for at least two more years in international cricket, while Kohli can push himself to be around for another five years.

"Rohit can easily play for two more years. You never know with Virat Kohli's fitness, you can see him competing for five years. He is probably the fittest guy in the team," Harbhajan was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

"You ask any 19-year-old competing with Virat . Virat will beat him. He is that fit. I believe Virat and Rohit have a lot of cricket left in them and it is entirely up to them. If they are fit enough, they are performing and the team is winning, they should continue to play. As simple as that," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

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Red-ball cricket, you really need these two guys to play a little bit more than what people are asking: Harbhajan

According to the legendary off-spinner, Rohit and Kohli have a critical role to play in grooming the younger players, especially in Test cricket.

"Red-ball cricket, you really need these two guys to play a little bit more than what people are asking. You need experience in all formats whether its limited overs cricket and Test cricket. You need experienced cricketers to nurture the talent that is coming up," Harbhajan stated.

"Selectors need to see that if someone is not performing well, they should be dropped. Whether they are senior player or juniors. But as long as everyone is fit, they should be able to get selected in the team. And if they are not contributing in any manner, whether its fitness or number of runs, then the time has come. They should be making way for the youngsters," he added.

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Rohit and Kohli featured in the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka, which India lost 0-2. While the Mumbai batter finished as the leading run-getter in the series, Kohli struggled on the spin-friendly wickets in Colombo.