The uniqueness of Kohli and Rohit in the eyes of Kapil Dev

India's first World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev recently said in an interview to Indian news agency IANS that there is no substitute for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the current Indian cricket team. He considers these two cricketers to be equal to Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. According to Kapil Dev, their departure will be a big blow for Indian cricket.

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Kapil Dev said, 'No one can take the place of Virat and Rohit in the Indian team in any version. They are great servants of Indian cricket and it (winning the T20 World Cup) was a great send-off for them. The heights Virat has elevated himself to in all editions, India will surely miss him in T20Is. Both are like Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. They have no choice.

Both Rohit and Kohli performed well in the recently concluded T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma became the second highest run scorer of the tournament. Test, ODI and T20, the performance of these two cricketers in all formats has caught the eye. Rohit's 4137 runs and Kohli's 8848 runs in Tests. Rohit has three double centuries in ODIs, the only cricketer to do so. On the other hand, Kohli has 13,848 runs and 50 centuries in ODIs. Kohli now owns the highest century in ODIs.

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Both these cricketers have announced their retirement after the T20 World Cup. However, they said they will still continue to play in the Test and ODI formats.

According to Kapil Dev, cricketers like Rohit and Kohli are very rare and their contribution is unique to Indian cricket. Their departure will create a big void for the Indian team.