Rohit Sharma says no plans of giving up the T20 format: Team India captain Rohit Sharma has just cleared the air by saying he hasn’t made up his mind to give up on the shortest format of cricket. The skipper has dropped a major bombshell amidst the ongoing debate should Hardik Pandya replace him as a T20I leader of the Indian team.
While addressing the media ahead of the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka, Rohit confirmed that the move to miss the T20I series is majorly to manage the workload of a couple of players. He added that certain players may miss the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand as well.
“It was made clear in the past that it’s a 50-over World Cup year, and for some of the guys, it’s not possible to play all formats,” Rohit said on the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka. “If you look at the schedule, the matches are back to back. So looking at some of the players’ workloads, we wanted to give them a break. And I also fall into that category.”
Team India will play ODIs more than the T20Is this year in wake of the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023 which will be held in India itself. The senior players are likely to focus on the 50-over trophy and miss the T20Is.
“We have only six T20Is, three [against Sri Lanka] are over and we have three against New Zealand. So we will look after those boys till we get to the IPL, and see what happens after that. But certainly, I have not decided to give up the format.”
When asked about the plans of the cricket board after Rohit decides to relinquish his ODI and Test captaincy, the cricketer replied that there are no immediate plans as such and the teams is focusing on the ODI World Cup right now.
“Abhi toh kehna mushkil hai. Sabka focus abhi ODI World Cup pe hai. (It is difficult to say right now as everyone is focused on ODI World Cup). And also we have World Test Championship matches coming up. You have to wait and watch,” he replied.
Team India will lock horns against Sri Lanka in the 1st ODI at Guwahati on 10th January. Interestingly, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will be seen together on a cricket field after a long hiatus.