India’s T20 squad will see a big change in the next 24 months as veteran players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin will gradually retire. Sources from the Cricket Board of India (BCCI) gave this information on Thursday. It appears that Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik have played their last matches for India in the shorter format, but the BCCI will leave it to Kohli and Rohit to decide on their future in the T20 International.
Rohit, who seemed worried after the team’s humiliating defeat in the T20 World Cup semi-final, was consoled by head coach Rahul Dravid and then faced the media at the press conference. The next T20 World Cup is still two years away and, if those in the know are to be believed, a new team under Hardik Pandya will be ready as he is a long-time captain candidate.
A BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity: “BCCI never asks anyone to retire. This is a personal decision. But yes, considering the limited number of T20 matches in 2023, most of the seniors they will focus on ODIs and test matches.
“If he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t need to announce his retirement. You won’t see most of the senior players playing T20 next year.” However, when head coach Rahul Dravid was asked about the future of senior players like Kohli and Rohit He said it was too early to talk about changes.
Dravid said: “It’s too early to talk about it after the semi-final match. These players have done well for us. As you said, we have a few years to think about it.
It is understood that the T20 International format will not receive much attention over the next year as India will play at least 25 ODIs ahead of the 50+ World Cup on home soil next year. A look at India’s future tour schedule shows that until the World Cup Over 50, the team will play just 12 T20 Internationals as bilateral events, starting with a three-match series in New Zealand next week.
The inclusion of Shubman Gill in the team and Rishabh Pant (vice captain of the tour) opening the innings could change the powerplay hitting equation. Let’s also not forget the extremely talented Prithvi Shaw, who has been overlooked time and again by her during Dravid’s tenure as coach. Rohit and Kohli are very big names and BCCI is likely to let them decide their future. Rohit is 35 years old now and in two years at the age of 37, he is not expected to lead the team in the world T20 tournament.
Karthik was assigned the role of short-term runner-up in view of the ongoing T20 World Cup. As for Ashwin, he was unable to bother the opposition batsmen throughout the tournament. In six matches, three of his six wickets were against Zimbabwe. During this, he ran at an economy rate of 8.15. Washington Sundar, who cemented his place on the team before injuries, will now have more opportunities.
The only difficult decision will be with Lokesh Rahul. His strike rate of 120.75 shows that all is not well with the Indian team. Rahul is the only starter among the top teams to have played two maiden overs and failed to reach double figures against any of the top teams (four against Pakistan, nine against South Africa, nine against England) in a big match. Indian team mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton’s contract comes to an end with the conclusion of the campaign in the T20 World Cup. Upton’s second spell with the Indian team did not bring the desired results as the team failed to perform effectively in both the Asian Cup and the T20 World Cup.