The end is nigh. It’s been there for a while. Let it befall now. The BCCI and its chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar’s decision to remove Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain and replace him with Shubman Gill is a sign of bigger things to come.
Don’t think, even for a solitary second, that this is it. With every word that came out of Agarkar’s mouth, it became clearer and evident that Rohit and Virat Kohli’s chances of playing the 2027 World Cup are slim. Age is one factor, of course. Rohit would be 40, and Kohli closing in on 39 by the time South Africa hosts the biggest cricketing tournament in the world. But the bigger concern for Ro-Ko is match practice.
Having retired from Tests and T20Is, the ODI is all Kohli and Rohit have in international cricket, and with time, the readiness and the willingness to be prepared for the World Cup in South Africa will only get more challenging. In fact, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar reckons the selection committee took the right call in appointing Gill as captain and remains confident that Rohit himself would not disagree with the call.
“We don’t know whether Rohit Sharma will be ready for the 2027 World Cup. He only plays ODIs now, and if we see the international calendar, the Indian team isn’t playing too many ODIs. Bilateral tours mostly include Tests and T20Is. If he only plays 5-7 ODIs in a year, he won’t get that kind of practice, which you need for a big tournament like a World Cup. If his place in the team isn’t certain, the decision to prepare Shubman Gill was taken,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
“Team comes from. Personally, he has done a lot – won us the Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup before that. There’s no two ways about his captaincy. But even he (Rohit Sharma) agrees with this decision because if you need to think two years ahead, then a young captain needs to be prepared. And this is the thought process the selection committee went ahead with.”
Why Rohit Sharma is uncertain
India will play at least 27 more ODIs until the 2027 World Cup, with more expected to be added in the FTP. However, these numbers pale in comparison to the rising number of T20Is. These matches are scattered across the calendar, and with Rohit and Kohli’s reluctance to play domestic cricket, the road to the 2027 World Cup looks arduous.
“Of course. If you are non-committal, if you can’t say whether you’ll be ready for the next two years, be ready [for more bad news]. Even they are aware that if they only have to play ODI, there are rarely any. For that, they need to practice more and play something like the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This is possibly why they have taken that stance.”
Rohit and Kohli will make their much-anticipated return to ODIs when India takes on Australia in a three-match series starting October 19. The next series takes place in December, January and so on. Only time will tell how much longer Rohit and Kohli want to prolong their careers. But rest assured, the end is near.