Former India opener Aakash Chopra reacted to reports of the BCCI trying to convince Rohit Sharma to captain the Indian team in T20Is in the leadup to the T20 World Cup 2024 and mentioned that he doesn’t think that the Test and ODI skipper has ever said anything about not leading the side.
Rohit Sharma recently captained the Indian side which reached the final of the ICC World Cup 2023. But in the T20I format, he has not played a game since November 2022, when India lost to England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022.
Since then, Hardik Pandya has primarily captained the Men in Blue in the shortest format of the game.
Along with Rohit, there is a lack of clarity on the future of Virat Kohli in T20I format. While the senior duo is speculated to a return to the format before the next year's global tournament, confusion remains over the same.
Recently, reports floated that Virat Kohli has asked for a break and will not play the white-ball leg of the upcoming South Africa tour. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma is also on a break and has yet to confirm his participation in the white-ball leg.
Amid the speculations, former India opener Aakash Chopra posted a rather interesting tweet over the same.
The former opener stated that contrary to the reports doing the rounds, Rohit has “never expressed” his will to not be available in T20Is, and the reason for his and Kohli's absence from the format has never been clarified.
“I don’t think Rohit has ever expressed his desire not to lead India in any format. Happy to be corrected…if I have missed anything. So, why does he need to be convinced of something that he’s never said NO to?? In fact, since the last T20 World Cup…nobody has mentioned why Rohit-Virat wasn’t a part of any T20i that India played. That’s a mystery…nobody has ever tried to unravel,” Chopra wrote on X.
Meanwhile, BCCI is reportedly going to announce the India squads on November 30, for the South Africa tour where the Men in Blue will play 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs, and 2 Tests in December-January.
