Shamik Chakrabarty in Ahmedabad
Rohit Sharma has been removed as India’s ODI captain. Make no mistake, it’s a call taken by the selectors. As RevSportz reported, Shubman Gill has replaced him as ODI skipper.
Rohit, along with Virat Kohli, is part of the 15-member Indian squad that will tour Australia for three 50-over internationals, starting on October 19. A five-match T20I series will follow, but Rohit and Virat have already hung up their shortest format boots.
At the team selection press conference here in Ahmedabad on Saturday, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said he had a conversation with Rohit before taking the decision. “Firstly, it’s practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats,” Agarkar told reporters.
“Just in terms of planning… Obviously, at some stage, you have got to start looking at where the next World Cup is. It’s also a format which is played the least now. So you don’t get that many games to actually give the next guy, or if there is going to be another guy, that much time to prepare himself or plan. And we are two years away still. It might look like a long time, but we don’t quite know how many one-day games we might play.”
Agarkar admitted it was a difficult decision to remove someone from captaincy who in his last assignment led India to the Champions Trophy triumph.
I mean, even if he had not won the Champions Trophy, it would have been a difficult decision because of how good he’s been for India. But you have got to sometimes look at what’s coming forward, where you stand as a team and eventually look at what’s in the best interest of the team. Whether it’s now or maybe six months later,” the chief selector explained.
But what lies ahead for Rohit and Virat beyond the Australia tour? Agarkar made it clear that they will have to play domestic cricket to be in the reckoning.
Yeah, I think we have made it clear a couple of years back now that whenever the guys are available, they should be playing domestic cricket. That’s the only way you will keep yourself sharp if you have got a long enough break. Whether that’s possible with international cricket, if you are playing or not, that only time will tell. But if guys are free, they should be playing domestic cricket.”
Yashasvi Jaiswal is in the side as reserve opener, and between the lines, the message is loud and clear — perform or perish. “At the moment, Rohit and Gill are likely to open. There’s Yashasvi Jaiswal. People tend to forget how good he is as well. And Tilak’s (Varna) very close. Again, we have taken a 15-man squad.”
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya is not in the white-ball squads because he hasn’t yet recovered from the injury he suffered at the Asia Cup. Ravindra Jadeja hasn’t been picked for the ODIs in Australia because the selectors thought an additional left-arm spinner Down Under would be surplus to requirements.
India’s ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India’s T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
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