Rohit Sharma unlikely for T20Is, BCCI to take call on his ODI career soon: With the nerves post the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 settling in, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to overview a massive task which lies on the table for the richest cricket board. Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who is on the wrong side of his 30s, will be on the agenda for the meeting, as BCCI plans to forge out the action plan for the upcoming ICC events.
Reportedly, Rohit Sharma’s white ball career has come under BCCI’s radar. While there will be other topics to be discussed in the meeting, the talk of the town would be clarity on Rohit Sharma’s white-ball career.
Sharma, who led Team India in a near-perfect World Cup 2023 campaign, is already 36 years old and the next World Cup will be four years later. The age is certainly not on Rohit’s side, who has looked absolutely fine with his form in the recently held ODI World Cup 2023.
As far as Rohit Sharma’s T20I career is concerned, the veteran batter has conveyed that he will be fine if he is not considered for the Twenty20 cricket further.
Rohit’s last T20I outing came back during the T20 World Cup in 2022 in Australia. After India’s embarrassing exit from the tournament, reports flooded headlines that the BCCI has made up its mind to phase out the veterans of the game especially, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
Interestingly, none of the three aforementioned batters have played a single T20I fixture since the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
“Rohit had communicated to the Indian selection committee before the ICC World Cup 2023 that he was fine with the idea of not being considered for T20Is. The selectors want to go ahead with young players,” the source told TOI.
While it seems Rohit Sharma’s T20I career has come to a close, he is still going strong in the ODIs and Test format. With the Champions Trophy scheduled to be held in 2025, the BCCI might put a hold on the decision to overlook Rohit from the 50-overs format as well.
The other agenda for the meeting between Rohit Sharma and the BCCI chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, would be the selection of the able candidate to pass on the baton of the Indian white-ball outfit.
“Rohit will focus on Test cricket for the next cycle of World Test Championship. Grooming a skipper for five-day format is a part of the agenda,” the source added.
Earlier, Hardik Pandya was widely touted to take the reins from Rohit Sharma, however, his fitness concerns have made selectors scratch their heads. Hardik, who has led India’s T20I outfit since Rohit Sharma’s oust, missed a major part of the ICC World Cup 2023 due to an ankle injury.
Hardik is unlikely to play any further T20Is this year and is reported to make a comeback in the IPL 2024 for Gujarat Titans (GT).
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For more details head to BCCI’s official website.
