India’s Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma has said that he has not given up on the T20 format. With talks around Sharma being phased out of the T20I setup along with other stalwarts like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul doing the rounds, Sharma openly addressed the matter, denying all such reports. The India captain instead cited workload management as the reason for him and others missing out on the Sri Lanka T20I series.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said to be moved on from the trio of Sharma, Kohli, and Rahul. The Indian cricket board even gave an indication of their intentions as they omitted the three players from the T20I series against Sri Lanka. About their participation in the T20Is against New Zealand, reports have emerged that BCCI once again may look past these three names.
However, Rohit asked everyone to wait for the NZ series and then the Indian Premier League (IPL) before coming up to any conclusion about his future in the shortest format.
"Firstly, it is not possible to play back-to-back matches. You need to give them (all format players) enough break. I definitely fall in that as well. We have three T20Is against New Zealand. We will see what happens after IPL. I have not decided to give up the format," Rohit Sharma said in a pre-match press conference on the eve of first ODI between India and Sri Lanka.
Coming to India’s squad for the three ODIs, the Men in Blue dealt a major blow on Monday when BCCI announced that pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the series. Bumrah is believed to have been facing issues with his back again and thus BCCI in consultation with NCA has decided to rest the pacer.
India’s Updated Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh.
