“There has to be a balance…”: Kallis on Virat-Rohit return to T20Is

Legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis on Friday expressed his take on star batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning to the Indian T20I side more than an year ahead of ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in June, saying that there has to be a balance between youth and experience.

Virat and Rohit have finally made their return to T20Is during the ongoing three-match series against Afghanistan. It marks their first appearances in a short format following a crushing ten-wicket loss to England in the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. While Rohit played the first game in which he was run out for a duck, Virat will return to play the remaining two matches after missing the first one in Mohali due to personal reasons.

“I think there has to be a balance between the two. It depends on how you want to go in the tournament and what your game plans are. Experience has a big role for sure,” Kallis said.
On the recently-concluded India-South Africa multi-format series, which saw Men in Blue win the T20I and ODI series and draw the Test leg of it, Kallis said, “It was a great series, a tough one. Two great sides and they gave their best.”

However, he expressed his dissapointment with the pitch used for the second Test in Cape Town, which ended in just two days with 642 balls being bowled, making it the shortest Test ever. “It is sad that it went that way. You want two quality sides to playing on a good surface. A little disappointing but both sides had to play on that surface and India outplayed SA on a tough surface,” said Kallis.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday gave an “unsatisfactory” rating to the Newlands pitch in Cape Town following a low-scoring second Test between India and South Africa. On the SA20 serving as a platform for players to earn a spot in the national T20I side for the World Cup, Kallis said, “It (T20 WC) is a big tournament for a lot of guys. They are putting their hands up and getting their spots on the SA side, as well as learning from other international players.”

Kallis expressed that it was great that some matches of the T20 World Cup are being played in the USA to promote the game. “It is good that the game is growing and every time we go to new countries. Hopefully, America catches up with the game,” he said.

On his association with Pretoria Capitals during the SA20 season two as an assistant coach, the great all-rounder said, “It has been good fun so far. We had a good camp leading up to the first game. Unfortunately, today did not go well (loss to Paarl Royals), but that’s how things are. But we have had good fun and I think that’s what the tournament is all about, is having fun and hopefully having a good tournament.”