The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) dismissed rumors about veteran opener Rohit Sharma's ODI future on Thursday, saying that his form remains top-notch following a high-level performance assessment meeting at its Mumbai headquarters.
India's T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and Center of Excellence (CoE) director VVS Laxman all attended the critical evaluation conference. They were joined by top BCCI officials, including President Mithun Manhas, Secretary Devajit Saikia, Joint Secretary Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, and temporary CEO Hemang Amin.
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia underlined that the former captain's position is secure after the board met to review recent overseas trips and plan for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
"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 speculation? I do not want to give fodder to the speculators," Saikia told reporters.
This long-pending review meeting was supposed to take place in July to discuss India’s poor performance in the T20I series in Ireland and England, where they failed to win a single match. However, the meeting happened after India defeated Zimbabwe 3-0 in the T20I series and Sri Lanka 1-0 in the Test series.
Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector, was notably unable to attend the crucial meeting because of short notice and connectivity issues when he was out of Mumbai.
"Today, we did not have any selection meeting. We had a routine meeting, like we do every 2-3 months. We had a meeting today with the head coach, the CoE head of cricket, as well as two of the captains, T20I skipper Shreyas and 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. He was in an area where he could not join online either, despite our best efforts," added Saikia.
"So, we had discussions and basically discussed how our team performed in England and Ireland. We also discussed what we are going to do over the next year. A roadmap has been prepared, and we will undertake some exercises so that we can perform very well in the 2027 World Cup.
Yes, we did not do well. You all know that we lost matches in Ireland and also in England. We lost those T20I and ODI series 2-1. So, we wanted to know the reasons, and we have to do some soul-searching about that. We have also chalked out certain strategies for the future before touring any of the SENA countries," added Saikia.
Additionally, he refuted reports that Agarkar's tenure would expire, that the senior men's selection committee would be altered, and that a director of cricket would be appointed for the men's setup.
"There was no such discussion on this in today's meeting. I do not comment on new rumors. We did not have any such discussions, nor do we have any 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 discussed our way forward regarding team preparations because we have a busy schedule ahead.
We have not discussed team selection, team combination, or who will be playing in which format. For that, the selectors will take a call. Today, the selectors were not part of the discussion. So, when the selectors meet to pick the team for the West Indies series, and thereafter for the New Zealand series, they will consider whatever parameters they deem necessary," concluded Saikia.
(IANS inputs)
