"It’s benefiting"- Virat Kohli opens up on his and Rohit Sharma’s famous 'ROKO' hashtag

Even at present, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma remain the two biggest names in Indian cricket. Their nickname ‘Ro-Ko’ has earned popularity along with ‘Virushka’ between Kohli and his wife, the Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma. Somewhere down the line, there is ‘MahiRat’, renowned for the bond between Kohli and MS Dhoni. 

Kohli and Rohit Sharma return to the action after the three-match 50-over series against England in the United Kingdom. The former celebrated two successive half-centuries at Edgbaston and Lord’s, while the Nagpur-born smashed a fine century to shut down the criticism.

Virat Kohli reacted to fans trending the "ROKO" hashtag

Kohli spoke about the special and strong feeling between them as they have been trying their best to continue the same success in the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, along with winning the title.

“Ro-Ko has a nice ring to it. Before the first hashtag came, Mahi bhai and I were 'MahiRat'. That went on for a long period of time. Me and Rohit Sharma playing for so long and now that's hashtag came up 'Roko', that's sound nice, that's sound good.” Kohli said in the same interaction.

“People loving it and lot of having fun with it. From the broadcasters' perspective, it's a very nice tagline to use: Roko is here, Roko is back, Roko is playing. That's good if it's benefiting everyone, so that's good.” He reckoned.

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The Delhi-born said that the ‘Ro-Ko’ term has also been beneficial for the broadcasters, who continue to advertise the same term before every series.

“When you have played for so long, and you have been in leadership positions respectively for India, the goal is always that, as a senior player, you would bounce off things with your captain,” Kohli said.

“And similarly for Rohit, when he became captain, he would bounce off ideas with me as well. So, the conversations have always been about how to take the Indian team forward. Because eventually, the end goal is: how does the team benefit?” The former Indian captain concluded.

Rohit and Kohli continue to eye a place in India's squad for the ODI World Cup 2027

Rohit has smashed 11895 runs in 280 innings of the ODI format for India at an average of 48.95 and a fine strike rate of 93.04 with the help of 34 centuries and 62 half-centuries at the best score of 264 runs against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He hopes to cross the 12000-run mark in the West Indies series.

See Also: Watch: "Virushka is very" — Virat Kohli speaks about his and Anushka Sharma's iconic nickname

Kohli, meanwhile, has collected 14941 runs in 302 innings of ODIs at an average of 58.59 and a strike rate of 93.95 with 54 centuries and 79 fifties at the best score of 183 runs. He will eye crossing the 15000-run mark.

Both the veterans, especially Kohli, have a strong record in South Africa. They will hope to use their skills and experience to get the title of the World Cup and end their career on a high.