Former India captain and national selector Kris Srikkanth advised Ajit Agarkar, the current chairman of the selection committee, to be “upfront” with Rohit Sharma and let the senior batter know what the future holds for him in international cricket. Following Rohit’s 26-run knock off 47 balls in the second ODI against England in Cardiff, several reports claimed that Rohit could play his last match for the Men in Blue on July 19, as the committee has decided to look past him for the World Cup and give Yashasvi Jaiswal a chance.
However, the matter took another turn late on Friday night, when BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia denied all these reports, saying Rohit would not be playing his last match for India on Sunday and that he would continue representing the country as “long as he is in the scheme of things.”
The last few months have seen mixed results for Rohit, and the batter hasn’t been able to consistently score runs. The pressure is mounting on the former India captain, considering Jaiswal scored two centuries in his last three ODIs. Amid the growing debate, Srikkanth said that the time has come for the management to make a decision and inform Rohit accordingly.
“The management might have told him that they have the option of dropping him if he doesn’t retire. But when there are such contrasting reports day to day, how will a player have confidence? If this is true, be upfront and clearly communicate it to him. Let him know where he stands. After that, he can make his own decision. Whether he wants to continue or not, that’s his choice,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
“The decision has to be made now, as only then can Jaiswal or someone else replacing him settle into the team before the 2027 World Cup. But it’ll be interesting to see if the management reverses its decision if Rohit scores a 75 in the Lord’s match. Even at his age, if he continues performing, he has to be picked for the World Cup,” said Srikkanth.
‘Mentally wrong’
Speaking about Rohit’s knock in the second ODI, where the right-hander failed to get any sort of timing, Srikkanth dissected that something had gone wrong “mentally” with the player, and it was truly disheartening to see him bat like that.
He also added that Rohit, 39, looked clueless, and it was probably the worst he’s ever looked in white-ball cricket.
“It is clear that something has gone wrong mentally with Rohit based on his knock yesterday. It was not his kind of batting at all. Something must have happened before the match. It was disheartening to see Rohit bat the way he did,” said Srikkanth.
“It was such a scratchy knock, and he looked completely out of sorts. I can’t remember seeing such a knock from Rohit in white-ball cricket, and it was very surprising. I don’t know what was bothering him, but he wasn’t getting his timing properly, and he looked clueless,” he added.
