Doubts linger over Rohit Sharma's availability in T20Is in near future

Rohit Sharma (Pic: AFP)

India's ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma is unlikely to play T20 Internationals anymore and had discussed his future in the shortest format before the start of the 50-over World Cup, according to sources in the BCCI.

Rohit hasn't played a single game in the shortest format since India's T20 World Cup semi-final exit in November 2022. Hardik Pandya has mostly led the Indian team in T20Is since then.

The 36-year-old India skipper has played 148 T20Is scoring 3853 runs at a strike-rate of nearly 140 with four hundreds.

"It is not a new development. Rohit hasn't played any T20Is in past one year as the focus was on ODI World Cup. He had extensive discussions with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar in this regard. He has himself volunteered to stay away from T20Is. It has completely been Rohit's call," a senior BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

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After Rohit, India have four openers, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad, and all of them are proven IPL performers.

If the younger crop does not perform, the selectors or the BCCI brass might just ask Rohit to reconsider his current stand.

It is understandable that at this stage of his career, Rohit would like to manage his workload and ensure that he remains mostly injury free for the remainder of his career.

It will be impossible to play three formats and IPL each year and with seven Test to be played between December 2023 to March 2024, the Indian skipper's focus will be mostly on red-ball cricket.

He still has a realistic chance of leading India to another World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2025 and his own form in traditional format has been superb since he started opening for India in 2019.

If all goes well, India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead the attack in two-Test series in South Africa with Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.

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However with five Tests in five weeks against England scheduled early next year, the pace trio will be rotated during the series.

After his long injury-forced break from competitive cricket due to lower back stress fracture, there were question marks over Bumrah's ability to play red ball cricket but those in the know of things said that the Gujarat man is ready for his comeback

"Bumrah is fighting fit and results were there for everyone to see. He is back at his peak fitness and is itching to play the Test matches. With Bumrah and Shami, you need to use them based on what is the priority format at a given time. Bumrah will certainly play T20 World Cup if all goes well," the BCCI source added.

(With agency inputs)