A month after a disheartening defeat in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final, the Indian ODI team is set to return to action, this time in South Africa. The touring Men In Blue are scheduled to engage in a comprehensive tour featuring contests in all three cricketing formats against South Africa.
Interestingly Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have opted out from India’s T20I squad for the upcoming series against South Africa including three ODIs, as many T20Is, and two Tests. Suryakumar Yadav remains the captain for T20Is, while Jasprit Bumrah has returned to the Test format after a long break. Bumrah’s last appearance in the longest format was in a Test against England in Birmingham in July 2022. And KL Rahul will captain the One-Day team.
The BCCI disclosed the reason for the non-inclusion of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the white-ball squad for the South Africa tour, citing that both players had requested a break.
While the BCCI has not provided further details, reports suggest that Rohit Sharma might be reappointed as the captain for the T20 World Cup. Rohit has been absent from T20Is for over a year since the 2022 T20 World Cup, where India reached the semi-finals but lost to England. During his absence, Hardik Pandya has led the Indian team, but according to news agency PTI, the BCCI is keen on having Rohit lead the team once again.
Virat Kohli, who hasn’t played T20Is since last year, boasts the highest international runs in the format (4008). It is challenging to imagine that he won’t be selected for the shortest format once he makes himself available. Kohli was also the top run scorer in the 2022 T20 World Cup with 296 runs and showcased his batting prowess by accumulating 639 runs in IPL 2023, including two centuries.
Taking about the upcoming T20 World Cup to be played in the Caribbean and the USA in summer 2024 Rohit said, “At the moment I think it was made clear in the past that it’s a 50-over World Cup year for us. And for some of the guys, it’s not possible to play all formats. If you look at the schedule, there were back-to-back matches, so we decided to just look at some players’ workloads. We wanted to make sure that they get enough break time and manage them. I definitely fall in that (category) as well.”
The T20I paths of both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are currently veiled in uncertainty as neither has publicly stated their intentions regarding their continuation or retirement from the format. Despite this lack of clarity, Virat Kohli’s outstanding displays in the recent T20 World Cup, where he stood out as the leading run-scorer, along with his impressive performances in the IPL 2023, position him as a likely selection, contingent upon his confirmation of availability for the upcoming matches.
Notes 👇👇
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 30, 2023
· Mr Rohit Sharma and Mr Virat Kohli had requested the Board for a break from the white-ball leg of the tour.
· Mr Mohd. Shami is currently undergoing medical treatment and his availability is subject to fitness.#SAvIND
Despite Rohit and Kohli’s omission from the T20I squad, reports suggest that at least Rohit is still in contention for the T20 World Cup. While Rohit has been requested to continue as captain to maintain the Dravid-Rohit partnership until the conclusion of the T20 World Cup, the situation regarding Kohli remains unclear.
The clarity on Kohli’s inclusion in the squad for the ICC event is expected to depend on his IPL performances. The presence of emerging talents such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, and others in the T20I squad adds an element of scrutiny to Kohli’s spot.
