Mumbai, September 3: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has dismissed ongoing speculations regarding veteran opener Rohit Sharma’s future in One Day Internationals (ODIs).
Following a high-level performance review meeting at their headquarters in Mumbai, the board confirmed that Rohit’s form remains impressive.
BCCI Secretary Devjeet Saikia clarified that the former captain’s position is secure after analyzing recent overseas tours and strategizing for the 2027 ODI The crucial review meeting included India’s T20 International captain Shreyas Iyer, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, Gautam Gambhir, and the head of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) . Top BCCI officials, including President Mithun Manhas, Secretary Saikia, Joint Secretary Prabhatej Singh Bhatia, and Interim CEO Hemang Amin, were also present.
Originally scheduled for July, this long-delayed review meeting was intended to discuss the losses in the T20 International series against England and Ireland, as well as the ODI defeat to England. However, it was postponed due to India’s T20 tour of Zimbabwe and the Test series in Sri Lanka, where they achieved victories of 3-0 and 1-0, respectively. The meeting finally took place on Thursday, September 3.
After the meeting, Saikia told reporters, “He (Rohit Sharma) is performing excellently in all matches. What more do you need? He scored 138-148 runs in the last match. So why the speculation? That’s why I don’t want to give any chance to those speculating.” Chief selector Ajit Agarkar was unable to attend this important meeting due to being out of town and facing connectivity issues.
Saikia explained, “Today, we did not have a selection meeting. This was a routine meeting, which we hold every 2-3 months. Today’s meeting was with the head coach, the CoE cricket head, and the two captains – T20 captain Shreyas and Test and ODI captain Shubman. He (Agarkar) was out of town, so he could not join. This meeting was called on short notice, and despite our best efforts, he could not connect online.”
The review specifically addressed the losses during the tours of England and Ireland, as the senior men’s team prepares for a challenging schedule ahead. This includes a T20 International series against Afghanistan before the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup, white-ball matches against the West Indies, the in Japan, a multi-format tour of New Zealand, ODIs against Zimbabwe, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home against Australia.
The BCCI Secretary further stated, “We discussed and primarily focused on how our team performed in England and Ireland. We are also considering what we will do in the next year. A roadmap has been prepared, and we will take steps to ensure a strong performance in the 2027 World Cup.”
He added, “Yes, we did not perform well. You all know we lost matches in Ireland and England; we lost 2-1 in both T20 Internationals and ODIs. That’s why we wanted to understand the reasons behind it and reflect on it. We have developed strategies for what we will do before going to any country (South Africa, Australia, England, and New Zealand) in the future.”
Saikia also dismissed rumors regarding Agarkar’s tenure ending or changes in the senior men’s selection committee, as well as the appointment of a cricket director for the men’s team. “There was no discussion about this in today’s meeting. I do not comment on new rumors. We did not discuss this, nor did we have any intention to.”
“There was no discussion about the selection committee. Our focus was entirely on the performances in England and Ireland, the recent Test series in Sri Lanka, and what we will do in the upcoming series before the World Cup, as the World Cup is our main goal. We primarily thought about how we should move forward for the team’s preparation, as we have several series ahead.”
Devjeet Saikia concluded, “We did not discuss team selection, team combinations, or who will play in which format. The selectors will make those decisions. The selectors were not part of today’s discussion. That’s why when the selectors meet to choose the team for the West Indies series and the following New Zealand series, they will consider all the criteria they need to evaluate.”