Rohit & Virat unlikely for T20I, Pandya for the long haul

Sources have informed that two of India’s most renowned cricketers, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, are unlikely to be selected for T20Is going forward. The BCCI plans to induct young players under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, so Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma may not be selected in the format going forward. The seasoned duo has been the backbone of Indian cricket for more than a decade, but the country’s governing body, the BCCI, is looking ahead to the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies by recruiting younger players for the T20I format.

It has also been informed by sources that Hardik Pandya is likely to be made the long-term captain in the shortest format and will play a crucial role in India’s T20I strategy.

According to sources, the newly appointed BCCI selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma, is likely to discuss Virat and Rohit’s T20I future. They went on to say that the superstar duo has made themselves available for T20I selection.

“BCCI wants a young team under Hardik Pandya for T20Is,” sources said

There was a lot of speculation that Rohit’s tenure as T20I captain might be coming to an end when Hardik Pandya was named captain of the Indian T20I team for the recently concluded three-match series against Sri Lanka. Despite being named to the ODI squad, Rohit and Virat, both former captains of India, did not play in the T20I match against Sri Lanka.

In ODIs in June 2007, Rohit made his debut for the international stage. September of that year marked the beginning of his T20I career. In contrast, Virat made his senior international debut against Sri Lanka in an ODI match in August 2008, and he played his first T20I in June 2010. Both have led India at T20 World Cups, but neither captain has been able to win the main event.

Virat tops the list of T20I run scorers with a total of 4008 runs in 115 matches at an average of 52.73. With 3853 runs in 148 matches at an average of 31.32, Rohit is second on that list.

Rohit, on the other hand, stated that he is not giving up on the shorter format on Monday, the day before the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati.

“We have only six T20Is, three are over. So we’ll manage, you know to look after those boys till IPL. Then we’ll see what happens after the IPL. But certainly, I’ve not decided to give up the format,”

Rohit said.

Rohit added that a new look team had played the T20Is against Sri Lanka due to workload management of some of the senior players. 

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“If you look at the schedule, there were back-to-back matches, so we decided on just looking at some players’ workload that we wanted to make sure that they get enough break time and manage them. I definitely fall in that (category) as well,”

Rohit said.