Rohit Sharma remains in ODI plans, BCCI quashes speculation

The BCCI dismissed speculation over Rohit Sharma's ODI future, saying the veteran opener remains in top form. Secretary Devajit Saikia also ruled out discussions on Ajit Agarkar's tenure, selection committee changes or a director of cricket for the men's team

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday quashed speculation regarding veteran opener Rohit Sharma’s ODI future, insisting his form remains top-class following a high-level performance review meeting conducted at its headquarters in Mumbai.

BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia clarified that the former captain’s spot remains secure after the board convened to analyse recent overseas tours and map out strategies leading up to the 2027 ODI World Cup.

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India’s T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, Test and ODI skipper Shubman Gill, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and Centre of Excellence (CoE) head VVS Laxman attended the crucial review meeting. They were joined by top BCCI officials – President Mithun Manhas, Secretary Saikia, Joint Secretary Prabhtej Singh Bhatia and interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hemang Amin.

The long-pending review meeting was initially supposed to happen in July to address India’s T20I series defeats in England and Ireland, along with the ODI series loss to England. But it was pushed back and finally happened on Thursday due to India’s T20I tour of Zimbabwe and Test tour of Sri Lanka, where they won 3-0 and 1-0, respectively.

“He is playing superbly in all matches. So what more do you want? In the last match, he scored 138-148 runs. So why is there a speculation? So, I do not want to give fodder for the speculators,” Saikia told reporters at the conclusion of the meeting.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar was unable to attend the important meeting due to short notice and connectivity constraints while being out of Mumbai.

“Today, we did not have any selection meeting. We had a routine meeting, like we have frequent meetings after an interval of 2-3 months. So, we had a meeting today with the head coach, the CoE head of cricket, as well as two of the captains – T20 skipper Shreyas, as well as the Test and ODI captain, Shubman.

“Today he (Agarkar) was out of station, so he could not be a part of the meeting. Because this meeting was called at very short notice and our head of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, was not in town, he could not join it, and he was in such an area that he could not join online also, despite our best efforts,” added Saikia.

The review focused heavily on addressing setbacks on tours of England and Ireland, as the senior men’s team prepares for a grueling upcoming schedule that includes T20Is against Afghanistan, white-ball games against the West Indies, Asian Games T20 trip in Japan, multi-format tour of New Zealand, ODIs against Zimbabwe, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at home, before the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup takes centrestage.

“So, we had discussions, and we basically discussed how our team performed in England and Ireland, and also we are thinking about what we are going to do over the next one year. The roadmap has been prepared, and we will be doing some exercises so that we have a very good performance in the 2027 World Cup.

“Yes, we did not do well; you all know that we lost matches in Ireland and also in England in those T20Is and ODIs; we lost by 2-1. So we wanted to know what the reasons were, and we have to do certain soul-searching about that, and in the future, what we will be doing before going to any of the SENA countries, we have chalked out some strategies,” added Saikia.

He also dismissed rumours regarding Agarkar’s tenure ending or changes to the senior men’s selection committee, as well as hiring a director of cricket for the men’s setup. “There was no such discussion on this in today’s meeting. I do not comment on new rumours. We did not have any such discussions, nor did we have such intentions.”

“There was no discussion on the selection committee. Our whole focus was on performances in England and Ireland, as well as the recent Test series in Sri Lanka and what we are going to do in the upcoming series before the ODI World Cup, which is our ultimate goal. We have basically thought about what should be our way forward about our team preparations and all, because we have a lot of series now.”

“We have not discussed all these things regarding the team selection, team combination, who will be playing in what format. For that, selectors will take a call. Today, the selectors were not part of the discussion. So when the selectors meet to select the team for the West Indies series, as well as thereafter for the New Zealand series, they will consider whatever parameters are to be considered by them,” concluded Saikia.