Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir and selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar will hold a meeting with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials here on Saturday to review the recent tour of Australia in which the future of key batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be discussed in depth. Will go. Due to consecutive series defeats against New Zealand (home) and Australia (away) and poor batting, questions have started being raised on Kohli and Rohit.
PTI has learned that future plans will be discussed in the BCCI meeting. In this, the main discussion will be on starting the transition period before or after the Champions Trophy. However, there is every possibility that both these senior batsmen will get another chance to prove themselves in the ODI Champions Trophy. This is a format in which he has always excelled. They can also look at the fact that both Kohli and Rohit have played just three ODIs in 2024 after the 2023 World Cup in India. Both of them played these three matches against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Kohli scored 24, 14 and 20 runs while Rohit scored 58, 64 and 35 runs in these matches. But overall, Kohli has been a champion player in 50 overs. Both these players can return to good mental condition with a good performance in the Champions Trophy. As far as Test cricket is concerned, the situation is completely different.
India has to play its next Test series against England and before that the poor performance of Kohli and Rohit will definitely be reviewed. Despite scoring a century in Perth in the Australia tour, Kohli could score only 190 runs at an average of 23.75. On the other hand, Rohit, who did not play in the first and fifth Tests, scored 31 runs in five innings at an average of 6.2. Similarly, it is possible that the performance of the coaching staff led by Gambhir may also be reviewed. He can be asked about his plans in this period of change.
Apart from the review meeting, the selectors led by Agarkar will also meet on Saturday evening to choose the Indian team for the Champions Trophy. India will play all its matches in the UAE and begin the campaign with a match against Bangladesh on February 20. The team has to be announced by January 12. During the selectors meeting, they will assess the fitness level of star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who is recovering from back spasms, and experienced fast bowler Mohammed Shami.
Shami, who has not played since the ODI World Cup 2023 due to ankle surgery, is likely to get the green signal from the BCCI Center of Excellence. Shami has recently played for Bengal in Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. The selectors can also select the squad for five T20 Internationals and three ODIs for the home series against England starting January 22.