Sadagoppan Ramesh, a former Indian opener, requested the administration of the India team and the BCCI selectors to automatically choose veteran batsman Rohit Sharma for the 2027 ICC ODI World Cup.
Given that South Africa would host the majority of the tournament, Ramesh cited an important statistic that bolsters Rohit's argument among SENA nations.
India has played two ODI series in SENA nations under head coach Gautam Gambhir, most recently in England and last year in Australia. Only two centuries were scored by Indian batters in these two countries, and both came off the bat of Rohit Sharma.
"The next World Cup is in South Africa, which is one of the SENA countries. There have been 15 ODI centuries by Indian players, with Gautam Gambhir as the head coach. However, only two have come in SENA countries. And Rohit Sharma is the one who scored both those centuries. So just by this logic, Rohit should be the first name written on the team sheet for the World Cup. There should be no hesitation on this," S. Ramesh said on Instagram.
Rohit Sharma first scored 121* in 125 balls against Australia in Sydney in the final match of the three-game series. The second ton came in the recent ODI series against England in the deciding match of the three-match series when Rohit scored 138 in 110 balls in a chase of a 388-run target.
Rohit Sharma is the only centurion in ODIs under SENA circumstances, according to Sadagoppan Ramesh. And just this statistic ought to guarantee him a spot in the Indian team for the 2027 ICC World Cup.
Given his age and sporadic lack of form this year, there has been a lot of conjecture around the 39-year-old's selection for the prestigious competition.
"The selectors still seem hesitant to pick Rohit Sharma for the 2027 World Cup. Yet, this is a simple logic through which Rohit should be an automatic choice for the tournament. And it has nothing to do with him being an all-time great player or other emotions. We all know that the SENA countries are the biggest challenge for Indian players," said Ramesh.
Rohit Sharma has enviable numbers in Australia and England amongst the SENA countries, with averages of 56.66 and 64.12, respectively. However, he doesn’t have good numbers in South Africa in ODIs, with an average of under 20 in 13 innings.
