Indian Captain Rohit Sharma Unlikely To Play T20Is In Future – REPORT
New Delhi: Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s T20I career has seemingly come to a close, with a decision on his ODI captaincy also to be taken in a few weeks time after Men in Blue loss to Australia at the ODI World Cup 2023 finals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Ahead of this, according to a report, Rohit 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. It is likely due to managing his workload in the 50-over format and the red-ball format.
The Indian skipper 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.
After Rohit opted not to play T20I International, India will have four opening options as of now. Young guns like – Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad will likely be contested for the opening slot.
The 36-year-old India skipper Rohit Sharma has played 148 T20Is scoring 3853 runs at a strike-rate of nearly 140 with four hundreds.
Rohit Sharma unlikely to play T20is anymore. (PTI). pic.twitter.com/3W4mqOYALG
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 22, 2023
“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.
Rohit Sharma played a crucial role in India’s journey to the finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup, leading the team with both bat and captaincy. He finished the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer with 597 runs in 11 matches, at an average of 54.27 and a strike rate of 125.94.
1) Gill – 826 rating.
3) Kohli – 791 rating.
4) Rohit – 769 rating.Three Indian batters in the Top 5 ranking in ODIs. pic.twitter.com/ZJHPxx00Nv
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 22, 2023
He scored one century and five half-centuries, demonstrating his consistency and ability to score big runs. In the latest ICC ODI batting rankings, the 36-year-old Rohit Sharma has moved to fourth with 769 rating points.
Despite winning 10 games on a trot at the prestigious tournament, India were not able to cross the finish line as they were outclassed by Australia in the ODI World Cup 2023 final on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India lost by six wickets.