IND v SL 2023: “I've not decided to give up the format,” Rohit Sharma opens up on his T20I future

Rohit Sharma didn't feature in the recently held T20I series against Sri Lanka at home.

By Salman Anjum - 09 Jan, 2023

For the recently-concluded T20I series against Sri Lanka, the BCCI selection committee excluded India’s regular white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma, his predecessor Virat Kohli and opening batter KL Rahul.

While the BCCI hadn’t provided any reason for the troika’s absence, there were reports claiming that they won’t be considered for the T20I selection anymore.

Now, Rohit Sharma has returned to lead the Indian ODI team in the home series against Sri Lanka, starting January 10 in Guwahati.

On the eve of the first ODI, Rohit addressed a press conference, where he said that he has no plans to give up on T20Is amid strong indications that the transition has already started under Hardik Pandya.

''We have only six T20Is, three are over. So we'll manage, you know to look after those boys till IPL. Then we'll see what happens after the IPL. But certainly, I've not decided to give up the format,'' Rohit replied to a query from PTI.

''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,'' he added.

The Indian captain further said a new-look team featured in the T20I series against Sri Lanka due to the workload management of some senior players.

''If you look at the schedule, there were back-to-back matches, so we decided on just looking at some players' workload that we wanted to make sure that they get enough break time and manage them. I definitely fall in that (category) as well,'' he said.

Rohit Sharma was also asked about India’s potential captain in ODIs and Tests after him.

''Abhi toh kehna mushkil hai. Sabka focus abhi ODI World Cup pe hai. (It is difficult to say right now as everyone is focussed on ODI World Cup). And also we have World Test Championship matches coming up. You have to wait and watch.''

(With PTI inputs)

By Salman Anjum - 09 Jan, 2023

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