After serving Indian cricket for long, not just with his tremendous batting skills but also as a leader of the pack, skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to take a call on his ODI future after the conclusion of Champions Trophy, irrespective of the outcome. ‘Captain Rohit’ is tipped to become the second skipper after Mahendra Singh Dhoni to win more than one ICC event as India will enter the title clash against New Zealand as overwhelming favourites. After the T20 World Cup final in Barbados, both Rohit and Virat Kohli announced immediate retirement from the shortest format and now as the D-day looms, there is speculation that this could well be the last match for Rohit in India blues.
If sources in BCCI are to be believed, post-tournament Rohit and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar are expected to discuss his future.
In Indian cricket, it is not always the selectors who decide on future of heavyweights but the players themselves in consonance with the decision makers in the board can decide. There are too many moving parts and it is not as binary as it might seem.
If India wins the Champions Trophy, the skipper could well announce it but it is understandable that he wanted to avoid retirement queries on the eve of the big final and hence didn’t turn up for the press conference.
In fact, his deputy Shubman Gill stuck to the brief and said ‘No discussions on retirement” which suggests how sensitive the matter is.
Also, Rohit and Kohli’s retirements can’t be bracketed together. It did happen after the T20 World Cup because in that format, there was nothing more for them to achieve at the international level.
But if other formats are analysed, Kohli is looking at 10,000 Test runs, already achieved by Steve Smith and Joe Root and even Kane Williamson.
Hence, Kohli the Test player is going nowhere and he would be needed in England, considering that even someone like Gill hasn’t performed in SENA land and there will be too much pressure on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant.
But in case of Rohit, he himself volunteered to sit out of the last Test in Sydney on the Australia tour and even if he wins the Champions Trophy, it doesn’t ensure that he will get his red ball mojo back.
Will selectors continue with Rohit as captain for England Tests? In case he travels to that part of the world, he can look for his swansong at home during the two-Test series against West Indies. Both series are part of next cycle of World Test Championship.
However for that, Agarkar’s committee and Rohit needs to be convinced that he wants to play Test series against England.
If he doesn’t play Tests, he will have only six away ODIs (3 vs Bangladesh and 3 v Australia) to play till he gets a home white-ball ODI against South Africa in December.
What India’s FTP calendar suggests?
Except Sachin Tendulkar, who got a grand remembered farewell at his beloved Wankhede Stadium, most of the other players in recent years haven’t had that privilege.
Ashish Nehra, who had a middling career as a white ball expert did get a farewell in Delhi but that was more because the erstwhile skipper Virat Kohli wanted to give him a warm send-off.
Will he or won’t he is the question but an interesting aspect of Rohit continuing in ODIs is Indian team’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) calendar with no ODI matches slotted at home till the series against South Africa in December.
That effectively means that after March 9, the Indian skipper will have to wait till December to play another white ball 50-over game unless he decides to play in ODI away series against Bangladesh, Asia Cup (in Sri Lanka) and then another three games in Australia.
If Rohit doesn’t see himself playing ODI World Cup in 2027, will the skipper stretch himself to play 50-over format which has now become least important in bilateral series cycle? Well, by Sunday night, we will have a clearer picture.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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