Rohit still makes sense for 2027 because his output has not dipped, whatever the birth certificate says. He has scored 604 ODI runs in 2026 after 650 in 2025, and a Lord’s century in July plus a hundred against West Indies in Guwahati show the power is intact. At 40, he will be an outlier at the tournament, yet selectors judge innings, and his recent ones argue louder than his age ever could. The figures behind that view are stronger than critics admit.
Production That Has Not Slipped
Judging a 39-year-old purely by age ignores what he keeps delivering. Over 2023, 2025 and 2026, Rohit has piled up 1,255, 650 and 604 ODI runs respectively, and in every one of those seasons his average has stayed above 50.
His 101 on 30 September at Guwahati against West Indies was his 35th ODI hundred. Alongside Shubman Gill, he added 255 for the opening wicket, and India chased down 406 with that platform. An innings like that, in a game that big, is the sort of evidence that shifts a selection argument.
Rohit Sharma ODI World Cup 2027 selection
No batter owns more World Cup centuries than his seven, and he needed only 19 innings to get them, whereas Sachin Tendulkar took 44 innings for six. The edition-by-edition story is just as strong, with 330 runs in 2015 followed by 648 and five hundreds in 2019.
In 2023 he finished with 597 runs averaging 54.27 while scoring at 125.94 per hundred balls, behind only Virat Kohli’s 765. A remarkable 401 of them arrived before the tenth over was done, a figure no other batter matched, which is precisely the job an opener is picked to do.
Form Returned at Lord’s in July
Rohit’s 138 from 110 balls at Lord’s on 19 July was a first, since no Indian had scored an ODI hundred at the ground before. At 39 years and 80 days, he is also the oldest player to manage it there. The innings ended a nine-month wait for a century, going back to Sydney in October 2025.
Form had not been easy to find. He had managed only 11 and 26 earlier in that series and just 61 across three innings against New Zealand back in January. After the Lord’s hundred, he followed up against West Indies with scores of 32, 101 and 92, which looks like a batter who has found his timing again, not one clinging on.
Rivals for the Opening Slot
Gill captains India and is Rohit’s usual partner at the top. Yashasvi Jaiswal opened alongside Rohit in Chennai during June, and he went on to an unbeaten 110 against Afghanistan for his second ODI hundred from only six matches. In mid-July, a report claimed selectors would never pick Rohit again, but he still appeared in the squad for the West Indies series.
The table lays out the competition. All averages are career figures up to the latest match shown, and Jaiswal has played just six ODIs, so his numbers carry less weight than the other two. Even so, Gill’s 59.09 average sets a high bar for anyone sharing the top of the order.
Opener | Age in 2027 | Average | Strike Rate | Recent Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Rohit Sharma | 40 | 48.83 | 92.97 | 101 and 92 vs West Indies |
Shubman Gill | 28 | 59.09 | 101.04 | 223 not out vs West Indies |
Yashasvi Jaiswal | 25 | 55.50 | 114.20 | 110 not out vs Afghanistan |
Fitness Doubts and African Pitches
His 40th birthday falls on 30 April 2027, with five months to go before the first match on 2 October. South Africa has not been kind to him, since he has 256 runs at 19.69 from 13 innings there and only one score over 50. A hamstring injury also kept him out of some IPL 2026 games, and the board is uneasy about how much cricket he can handle.
On 10 September, he was asked about 2027 and replied that October 2027 is far away, so the topic can wait. History offers comfort, because David Warner made a World Cup century at 36 and Tendulkar did it at 37. With the tournament still a year off, the Rohit Sharma ODI World Cup 2027 selection debate is better settled by innings than by birthdays.
Would you back a 40-year-old opener at the World Cup, or is it time to hand the slot to Jaiswal? Give us your view in the comments.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Will Rohit Sharma be in India’s 2027 World Cup team?
Nothing is confirmed yet, but he remains firmly in the selection picture. The next ODI assignment for India is a New Zealand tour in November 2026, which gives him another stage to push his case.
How many World Cup hundreds has Rohit scored?
He holds seven, with five of them in 2019 and single hundreds in 2015 and 2023. That is the tournament record, reached in 19 innings against Tendulkar’s six in 44.
What age will Rohit reach by the 2027 tournament?
He will be 40, having been born on 30 April 1987. The tournament begins on 2 October 2027, about five months after that milestone birthday, so age 40 is a certainty.
Who could open with Gill in 2027?
No pairing is confirmed. Gill captains the side, and both Rohit and Jaiswal have partnered him this year, so the opening slot remains a live contest between experience and youth.
Where will the 2027 ODI World Cup be played?
Three African nations host it: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The competition starts on 2 October and finishes on 21 November 2027, and the final takes place in Johannesburg, with all three countries sharing the matches.