Why Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will not play in Asia Cup 2025 in India?

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Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma would not be part of next year's Asia Cup which will be held in India. The Asia Cup 2025 will be hosted by India, the Invitation for Expression of Interest (IEOI) from the Asian Cricket Council for sponsorship rights confirmed on Monday.

It was also confirmed that Bangladesh will be hosting the Asia Cup 2027. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will have a chance to feature in the Asia Cup 2027 in Bangladesh but not in their own country in 2025.

The Asia Cup 2025 will be held in the T20I format, denying the two star batters and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja the opportunity to give a shot at defending the title at home.

Notably, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from T20I cricket after India won the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados on June 29. The players have decided to keep on playing in the ODI and Test formats, and therefore will be in contention to feature in the Asia Cup 2027.

While Kohli and Jadeja will be over 37-year-old in 2027, Rohit Sharma will be celebrating his 40th birthday in April 2027. Newly-appointed India head coach Gautam Gambhir has said that he would want Kohli and Rohit to play the 2027 World Cup if they are fit and willing.

The Asia Cup 2025 will be played in the T20I format to help the participating teams for the next T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka in 2026. Likewise, the ODI Asia Cup 2027 will be played ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa.

India won the 2023 ODI World Cup in the captaincy of Rohit Sharma by beating Sri Lanka in the final. The tournament helped India have the perfect warm-up ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023 in India.