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After Rohit Sharma guided his side to victory in the recently-concluded ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai, the Indian veteran along with several other key players will return to action in the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which is set to commence from Saturday, March 22 in Kolkata.
While Virat Kohli will be seen in action on the opening day as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are scheduled to take on defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rohit Sharma will take the field the following day as Mumbai Indians (MI) will lock horns with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai. Ahead of the marquee tournament, New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel dropped big statement on the star Indian batting duo’s future.
They can decide when they want to want to stop playing: Ajaz Patel on Rohit-Kohli’s future
Speaking with IANS, the Kiwi spinner opined that the batting icons have the right to take a call on their future. "They're the greats of the game. To be honest, I think they can decide when they want to want to stop playing. They're well within their rights to go for as long as they want. They've both got phenomenal records and they're both phenomenal players and I know as a bowler it's always worrying to be able to bowl to either of them," Ajaz Patel said.
Patel’s statement comes as the speculations of the senior Indian batters’ future reached the roof with India taking on New Zealand in the Champions Trophy finale, although, the Indian skipper was quick to quash the rumours. The 36-year-old was also asked about New Zealand’s CT 2025 campaign to which he replied, “India just played good cricket on the day, I guess. New Zealand performed really well throughout the tournament and we played some phenomenal cricket. I think the conditions obviously made it tougher as well but at the end of the day, India played very good cricket and unfortunately we lost on the day."
