End of road for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in T20? BCCI looking at NEW team under Hardik Pandya

Team India skipper Rohit Sharma announced on Monday (January 9) that he will take a call on his T20 future after the end of IPL 2023 later this year. Rohit is the captain of five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians, but they have failed to qualify for the Playoffs stage for the last two season.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have already communicated that the focus will be on ODI cricket this year with India hosting the ICC men’s 50-over World Cup later this year. The future of Rohit Sharma and former India captain Virat Kohli doesn’t look so bright any more with the BCCI looking to build a new-look squad for the T20 World Cup in 2024 under the leadership of Hardik Pandya.

According to sources, the BCCI wants a young team to be built under Hardik’s leadership for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA in 2024. Rohit, another former skipper Virat Kohli and recently sacked vice-captain KL Rahul are not currently a part of the shortest format.

“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,” Rohit Sharma said on the eve of the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati on Tuesday (January 10).

Rohit Sharma on Monday said he has no plans to ‘give up on T20 Internationals’ amid strong indications that the transition has already started under Hardik Pandya. “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.

Nets _
Fan meet-ups _ _#TeamIndia skipper @ImRo45 is all geared-up for #INDvSL ODI series opener __ @mastercardindia pic.twitter.com/o6SOrUblBg — BCCI (@BCCI) January 9, 2023

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

Rohit, Kohli and KL Rahul faced a lot of criticism for employing archaic technique during Powerplay, something that did hurt India during big games in Asia Cup as well as the World Cup. It is understood that Rohit will see how his upcoming season with Mumbai Indians pans out and he may decide his T20I future after that.

Ditto for Kohli, while the only player who has been plain and simple dropped from T20Is is Rahul. It is understood that Rahul is not being thought of as a potential leader of the national team anymore. Rohit was also asked who can be the India captaincy prospect in ODIs and Tests after him.

“Abhi toh kehna mushkil hai. Sabka focus abhi ODI World Cup pe hai. (It is difficult to say right now as everyone is focussed on ODI World Cup). And also we have World Test Championship matches coming up. You have to wait and watch.”

(with PTI inputs)