Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma snubbed in Australian broadcaster's predicted XI of 2025

Australian cricket broadcasting channel Fox Cricket recently made some bold predictions while announcing their World XI for the year 2025. While they picked three Indian cricketers in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and up-and-coming stars Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill, they left out the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and dynamic Australian opener David Warner. Both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are currently ranked World No.1 and 2 in International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ODI batting rankings. Moreover, the Indian captain also finds himself in the top 10 rankings for Tests and T20Is and is one of only two batsmen in the world (other being Pakistan’s Babar Azam) to do so.

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Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma make way for Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill

Even though opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and David Warner have been consistently plundering runs at the top of the order, the media house decided to go with young Indian stars Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill. The two youngsters have already been dubbed by many cricket experts to be the future of international cricket. Since the predicted XI is made for five years into the future, Rohit Sharma and David Warner, both aged 33, will be nearing their retirement age by the year 2025. Meanwhile, the 2018 Under-19 World Cup winning batsmen Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill will be aged 25 around the same phase.

However, if the age factor was taken into account, the broadcasters also went for Australian batsman Steve Smith (30), who is just a year younger than the prolific run-scorer Virat Kohli (31). The omission of Virat Kohli from the predicted 2025 XI seems to have created some furore by cricket fans on social media pages of the media house.

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Babar Azam and Steve Smith get surprisingly picked, Ben Stokes sole all-rounder

The Australian broadcasters also picked England’s 2019 World Cup hero Ben Stokes as the sole all-rounder in the line-up. Meanwhile, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan is the only front-line spinner in the team. The top-order comprises of the two Indian youngsters followed by Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne. The middle-order is solidified by Steve Smith, Babar Azam, Ben Stokes and South African limited-overs captain Quinton de Kock as the wicketkeeper of the side. Among the fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah is joined Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada.

Fox Cricket predicted 2025 Cricket World XI:

Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Babar Azam, Ben Stokes, Quinton de Kock (wk), Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah.

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