Ind vs Aus: The Board of Control of Cricket in India announced the limited overs squad that will travel to Australia on Saturday and the axing of Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain became the big talking point.
While fans made wild speculations over why Rohit may have been dropped as the captain of the ODI side, a report in the TOI claims that the selectors reckon Rohit would have had an impact in the philosophy of the dressing-room.
‘Could have disturbed the team culture’
“A player of Rohit’s stature in a leadership role would have meant he would get to drive his philosophy in the dressing room. But with him playing only in ODIs, a format which is played the least, it could have disturbed the team culture,” the Times of India quoted a BCCI source as saying.
“Gambhir had taken a back seat in Tests and ODIs in the first six months of his assignment, but the debacles against New Zealand and Australia prompted him to take charge more firmly,” the source added.
Rohit as ODI Captain
As an ODI captain of the side, Rohit has been one of the finest-ever. He boasts of a win percentage of 75, which is surreal. It is also the highest among Indian captains with 50 or more matches in the captain’s role. And mind you, this list features greats like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly.
It would be interesting to see Rohit’s role in the ODI set-up as a batter. Will he be ultra-aggressive or will he look to get big runs and be in the reckoning for the 2027 ODI WC?
We will get to know all that when India tours Australia in a couple of weeks.