After 3-0 washout to New Zealand, BCCI to take decision on senior players post Australia Test series | Mint

After Rohit Sharma-led India lost the Test series 0-3 to Tom Latham-led New Zealand on 3 October, the BCCI will decide the future of some senior Indian players following the tour of Australia.

According to a report by the PTI, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is considering implementing a structured phaseout policy before the start of the next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

It seems that the five-match Test series against Australia could be the final one for at least two of the four seniors, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin. All the senior players are in the last leg of their international careers.

When asked about his thoughts on India’s Test future, given the limited time left in his captaincy, Rohit said, “Look, I don’t think we can look that far ahead. It’s important to focus on the next series, which is Australia.”

“I’m not going to look beyond Australia series. Australia series, for us is now very, very important. We will try and focus on that rather than thinking what happens after,” he said.

Reports say that BCCI bigwigs and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and skipper Rohit may hold an informal discussion about the way forward for an ageing team.

“Stocks will be taken certainly and it could be of informal nature since the team leaves for Australia on November 10. But this has been a huge debacle but, with Australia series round the corner and the squad already announced, there won’t be any tinkering,” a senior BCCI source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

“But if India doesn’t qualify for WTC final in England, one can be rest assured that all four super seniors won’t be on that flight to UK for the ensuing five-Test series. In any case, all four have likely played their final Test at home together,” the source added.

Not to repeat 2011 saga:

Cricket experts believe that the BCCI is not keen on repeating the 2011 saga when suddenly an old team was found to be out of sorts. Chairman Agarkar and head coach Gambhir will need to talk to the senior cricketers about the plan ahead.

As of now, India would require a 4-0 result Down Under at the Border Gavaskar-Trophy to qualify for the WTC final, but in case if they fail, the the selection committee might be compelled to look at long-term prospects with chances given to players like Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal and others, who are ready for international cricket.

Also, Ashwin’s future in India whites could be up for discussion after the Australia series, as Washington Sundar is emerging as a strong prospect for the next 10 years.

Ravindra Jadeja may be persisted, although there is a ready replacement for Indian conditions in Axar Patel.

Virat, Rohit’s replacement:

Looking at stats, between February 2021 to the current match, Rohit Sharma scored 1210 runs from 35 innings in home Tests at an average of 37.81 with four hundreds. However in last 10 innings, the Indian skipper has been six scores of less than 10 runs and two scores of less than 20, with two half-centuries.

In the same period, Virat Kohli has played 25 innings at home for 742 runs at an average of 30.91, and one century on a flat Ahmedabad deck.

“No doubt pitches in Australia will be far better for batting but erasing self doubts after this kind of humiliation will be a difficult ask,” a former selector said.

Experts believe Kohli may be in the team if he keeps his fitness intact, but for Rohit playing beyond this cycle of World Test Championship would be difficult.

On captaincy:

The BCCI has named Jasprit Bumrah as vice-captain, but he might not be the long-term solution due to his workload management. BCCI is looking forward to Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant as options for Test leadership.