Cricket’s scheduling is cramped, and the former India coach Ravi Shastri seconds that. Shastri feels given the volume of cricket, none of the star players will continue playing all formats – mainly pointing towards two Indian stalwarts – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – whom he feels might give up one format, sooner than later.

Following two-time World Cup-winner with England Ben Stokes’ retirement from ODIs last year due to similar reasons, cricket’s tight scheduling is talked about a lot more. Speaking on the same to Sports Today recently, Shastri said he is aware of such a scenario and shared his thoughts on what could be its repercussions.

He said considering both Virat and Rohit are aging, and with too much of cricket played everywhere, it will not be sustainable for them or for most players for that matter, to continue playing in all three formats. Citing examples of how last year two Indian teams were playing at a same time in two separate continents, Shastri said this is how it is going be in times to come.

“I think not just with Virat and Rohit. It will be the case with a lot of players. There’s too much cricket. The volume of cricket is so much. For all you know, India might be playing a Test series somewhere, but a T20 tournament might be going on somewhere else with an Indian team. Many times when I was a coach, we were in one country; India was in another country playing Sri Lanka or someone proper. So it is going to happen,” Shastri told Sports Today in a recent conversation.

He added considering what format needs to be given importance in the particular year, most top players must be playing that first.

You will have to see what is important that year, and accordingly, get the players primarily focused in playing those games.” Ravi said. “So, if there is a World Cup coming of 50-over cricket coming, emphasis must be on 50-over cricket. If the emphasis on T20s, then decide who your nucleus of 15-18 players are,” the former coach added.

Meanwhile, Rohit and Virat are currently involved in the white-ball series against Australia and will feature in the IPL 2023 after this. Following that, they play the WTC final against the Aussies, starting June 7th in London. Later this year, India will two major tournaments – 2023 Asia Cup and the home World Cup.