'Still one of the best around' - Clive Lloyd backs Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma to play 2024 T20I World Cup

Former West Indies cricketer Clive Lloyd has backed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup, slated to held in West Indies and USA in June. The two-time World Cup-winning skipper mentioned that the Kohli is still one of the best players going around while Rohit’s captaincy has been very good and India must choose their best team.

“Kohli is still one of the best players around. Rohit is quite good as captain. So you pick your best team. You will have some young players too, because you have so many cricketers here, and they are pushing the older players... and that's how it should be. But I'm sure that you will have a very formidable side,” the 79-year-old said was quoted as saying by the New Indian Express.

Lloyd also stated that India is playing too much cricket at the moment. The Men in Blue played a three-match ODI series against Australia right before the ODI World Cup, where they played 14 games. The team then played a five-match T20I series against Australia only three days after losing the World Cup final. The Australia series was followed by a full-fledged tour of South Africa, including three T20Is and ODIs each and two Tests. 

Currently, the team is playing a three-match series against Afghanistan. Up next, the Rohit Sharma-led side will be playing a five-match Test series against England at home, which will be followed by the IPL and T20 World Cup in the months of March to June.

Lloyd stated that India have a very good squad but too much cricket might harm the bodies of a few cricketers. There has been a recent trend among modern-day cricketers where they are retiring from Test cricket to focus on the shorter format of the game. Lloyd said that while he does not mind the rise of T20 cricket, he believes that an overdose affects the game advserely. 

“Yes, I think they're a very good side, and they will do well for quite a while if they continue in this manner. But my problem is that they might be playing too much cricket, and then, you know, you can get stale,” Lloyd said.

“I don't mind T20. It's excellent. It's good entertainment. But I think too much of it might be hampering cricket throughout the world. It's hampered us in the West Indies. We only have five million people, 14 islands. And we are losing a lot of our players to the shorter formats, and they're refusing to play for their country, I find that very disturbing,” he added.