Mumbai: Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma and BCCI Chief selector Ajit Agarkar address a press conference in Mumbai, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (PTI
Center-Center-ChennaiCHENNAI: "Boring tha PC (It was a boring PC)," murmured Rohit Sharma as he and Ajit Agarkar laughed, perhaps without realising that the microphone was still on. The press conference where India announced their squad for the three ODIs against England and the ICC Champions Trophy had just ended in Mumbai. Unlike other Rohit press conferences, which more often than not are filled with anecdotes, jokes and comical moments, this was a serious one.
The last couple of weeks since the Border-Gavaskar loss and the events that transpired off the field warranted one. From the new guidelines for players, playing domestic cricket to update on Jasprit Bumrah to Mohammed Siraj not making the cut to having four spinners, quite a few topics were addressed and both the captain and chief selectors answered most of them to the point.
Take for example, the one on the new guidelines for the senior men that was doing rounds. Ajit Agarkar said that every team has some rules in place. "I suppose every team has some rules in place. We have spoken about various things over the last few months where you can improve as a team, where you can get a bit closer as a team. It's not a school. It's not a punishment," said the chief selector.
"Maybe we have spoken about it now and it's been put out, but a lot of them have been in place in any case. You keep on refining it as you go along, eventually what suits the team, you want to try and do," Agarkar added.
On the other hand, Sharma could be heard telling Agarkar before the press conference began, "Ab mere ko baithna padega secretary ke saath. Thoda discuss karna padega ye sab chees family, wamily ka aaye hai woh, sab mere ko bol rahe hai (I have to sit down with the secretary to discuss about these things that have come about family (guidelines). Everyone is asking me."
While that was not an official comment to the media, when asked, this is all Rohit had to say: "Who told you about these rules? Has it come from the official handle of the BCCI? Let it come officially."
Rohit, while confirming that he will take part in the Ranji game against Jammu and Kashmir for Mumbai — his first since November 2015 — did not shy away from clarifying his and other India international's perspective. "If you see our domestic season, it starts in October, maybe September, and it gets over by February-March and that is the time India plays a lot of cricket as well. So, guys who are not playing certain formats and have time, and then there is domestic cricket happening, then they will play. But (in) the last 6-7 years, I can at least tell about what has happened with me since I've started playing Test cricket regularly, which is from 2019, you hardly have any time in hand and then, when you play so much international cricket through the year, you need some time off as a cricketer just to refresh, get your mind right, just to be ready for the upcoming season," Rohit explained.
Coming to the Champions Trophy, Agarkar said that they are hoping Bumrah will get fit in time for the global event and will miss the first two ODIs against England. For the bilaterals, Harshit Rana has been called in as back up and there will be clarity about Bumrah in early February. Siraj, evidently, missed out in what has been his best format because Mohammed Shami and Bumrah are expected to take the new ball — they also have Arshdeep Singh for the variation — and his effectiveness isn't the same without the new ball.
"Obviously, with Bumrah missing, we're not sure. We wanted Arshdeep to come and play that role of bowling at the back end and Shami, obviously we saw what he did with the new ball," Rohit said, before adding, "We discussed it at length and we are only taking three seamers there (CT) because we wanted all the all-rounders with us. It's an unfortunate thing that he (Siraj) has to miss out but we had no option but to get the guys who can perform a certain role."
Agarkar also explained why Shubman Gill is named vice-captain, why Karun Nair couldn't make it and how the focus in on the Champions Trophy with talks of transition taking a backseat while Sharma spoke about his working relationship with head coach Gautam Gambhir without getting into specifics.
All in all, it might not have been the typical, entertaining press conference featuring Rohit, but considering where Indian cricket is and how things have unravelled since Sydney, it sure wasn't a boring one.