CHENNAI: Shortly after the Test win in Cape Town, India captain Rohit Sharma was addressing a press conference. While questions varied from pitches to challenges, there was one fielded alongside a query on batters’ adaptability — what is the next focus for you, the Afghanistan series or the England one? Rohit, being Rohit, understood what it meant, quipped, “dimmag laga rahe ho aap (you are putting your mind into it),” before answering the question on adaptability instead of this.
The intended question there was of course whether Rohit is looking to play T20Is for India again. The India captain, along with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, hadn’t featured in the shortest format since the 2022 T20 World Cup, but the talks of them playing T20Is again began shortly after the ODI World Cup. In the lead-up to the global event in the West Indies and United States, the speculations are gaining momentum. While the BCCI is yet to announce the squad for the three T20Is against Afghanistan, there have been reports that both the seniors have expressed their interest to continue playing in the shortest format.
As of now, Rohit is still officially the all-format captain despite not playing in one since November 2022. During this time, Hardik Pandya took charge of the T20I team and led them well, but his injury concerns had thrown a cloud of uncertainty. In the T20I against Australia after the ODI World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav captained the side and he continued on the same role in South Africa as well with Rahul captaining in ODIs. While Kohli and Rohit has not said anything on the subject, Rahul has indicated that he would even move down the order to find a place in the T20I side. Now, there is little question on the calibre of these batters who used to be India’s top-three in T20Is.
However, in the last 12 months, the youngsters who have come in, stepped up to seal the spots for themselves. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, and Rinku Singh have delivered every time the team needed them. Throw Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav into the mix, at least three of the top-six spots are already filled. The only available spot is the wicketkeeper-batter, and that is what Rahul would be eyeing for.
The case of Rohit and Kohli is a little complicated. To accommodate them, even if both of them open the batting, the selectors will have to leave out both Jaiswal and Gaikwad. SKY at No.3 followed by Hardik, Rinku and the wicket-keeper batter. It would mean that there are no left-handers in the top four and is, to a large extent, the same batters who featured in the last T20 WC. In the upcoming edition, India are playing all their league games in the USA before moving to West Indies. This is where Rohit and Kohli could come in handy with the unexpected nature of the surfaces in the USA, and those that are on the slower side in the Caribbean.
While the squad for the Afghanistan series that begins on January 11 should present a much clearer picture, the bottomline could come down to how they fare in the first half of the IPL season. Will they move forward with the next generation who have proven that they belong or will the veterans get to have one last go at the ICC trophy, only time will tell.