India entered a new T20I era with the Zimbabwe series after an unprecedented run in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. In Rahul Dravid's coaching swansong, India ended its long wait for a World Cup title. Rohit Sharma and Co. outclassed South Africa in the final to seal India's second T20 World Cup crown in the Caribbean. The Virat Kohli-starrer side became the first men's team to win a T20 World Cup without losing a single game in the ICC event.

After Team India's dominant show at the grandest stage, former India skipper Kohli confirmed his retirement from the shortest format. The match-winner in the final was joined by skipper Rohit, who also confirmed his retirement from T20Is on the same day. The two batting icons have carried the dreams of a cricket-crazy nation for over a decade. With India set to go through a tough transition period, outgoing batting coach Vikram Rathour said that the recently concluded Zimbabwe series gave Indian cricket a glimpse of its future T20I side.

'Never going to be easy to replace people of Rohit and Virat's calibre'

“It is never going to be easy to replace people of Rohit and Virat's calibre. The recently-concluded series against Zimbabwe (on Sunday) gave us some glimpse into how the T20 team will look like in future. But we still have a few years in Test and ODI cricket to get to that point. I won't be too concerned about it. We have a lot of depth in Indian cricket. There are lots of very talented and skillful players who are coming through the system. The only thing we need to make sure is the transition is done in a controlled manner. It needs to be gradual,” Rathour told PTI.

'Players like Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant…'

With Kohli and Rohit making way for the younger generation after dominating the shortest format, Rathour also picked some exciting young talents, who can announce themselves in the transition period. "I am hoping that by then, players like Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasavi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel to name a few, would establish themselves and will make the transition smooth. In ODIs also, we have experienced players like Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya to take over," Rathour added.