End of the road? BCCI to ask Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli to rethink their T20I future – Report

Since India’s ten-wicket loss at the hands of eventual winners England in the T20 World Cup semi-finals last year, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul haven’t played the shortest format. In the limited matches that India have played following the T20 WC debacle, Hardik Pandya has led the young side as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is keen on rebuilding the side with new faces. Ahead of the India-Sri Lanka ODIs, in Guwahati on Tuesday (January 10), captain Rohit stated that he has not given up on the format just yet. 

As Kohli and Rohit have expressed their avaliability for T20Is, it has been reported that the BCCI might ask them to reconsider their future in the format. As reported by the Indian Express, the matter is set to be discussed by the selection panel in the next few days when the committee meets to announce the squads for the New Zealand white-ball series at home.

With 2023 being looked upon as an important year for the senior men’s team, with the World Test Championship (WTC) final and ODI World Cup to be held later this year, the Indian senior players have been told to focus on the longer formats. With the need of the hour to assemble a young squad and adopt a more fearless approach in T20Is, the board is keen to rebuild the team under Hardik Pandya and give him enough time before the 2024 T20 World Cup. Hence, a clarity will be needed about the future of Rohit and Kohli in the format. 

Ahead of the India-SL first ODI, in Guwahati, skipper Rohit addressed the pre-match press conference and spoke at length about his T20I future. “At the moment I think it was made clear in the past that it’s a 50-over World Cup year for us. And for some of the guys, it’s not possible to play all formats. If you look at the schedule, there were back-to-back matches, so we decided to just look at some players’ workload that we wanted to make sure that they get enough break time and manage them. I definitely fall in that as well. We have three T20Is against New Zealand. We will see what happens after IPL. I have not decided to give up the format,” Rohit said ahead of the ODI series opener.