The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee and the team management headed by coach Gautam Gambhir have made a name for themselves for taking harsh but strong calls to keep the national side in good standing. One year prior to the 50-over World Cup, it seems like the fate of both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli has been sealed. Often clubbed together and called ‘RoKo’ by fans, the think tank has emerged as separate entities. According to a report by news agency PTI, the management has decided to look beyond Rohit for the World Cup, and the upcoming third ODI against England could be his last assignment in the blue jersey.
The ongoing England series has seen Rohit far from his best, managing scores of 11 and 26. In the Cardiff ODI on Thursday, Rohit, 39, stayed at the crease for 47 balls, struggling for timing and eventually managing 26 runs before losing his wicket to Will Jacks. The Hitman failed to get going and even struggled to get his favoured pull shot away from the bowling of Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer. He would have lost his wicket to Archer pretty early on had Atkinson not dropped a catch in the deep.
The Agarkar-led committee has now decided to look past Rohit and give a chance to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was dropped from the ODI squad despite scoring a century in his last match for India against Afghanistan.
The harsh call might have been taken on Rohit, but the totally opposite is true for Kohli. According to PTI, both Agarkar and Gambhir are on the same page when it comes to the former India captain, and he's an automatic pick for the next year's World Cup. The management has no qualms about his fitness and form, and hence Kohli has been narrowed down as a starter for the competition in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe next year.
Rohit's diminishing returns
Rohit's recent ODI returns have done little to strengthen his case. Across his last eight innings in the format, the India captain has scored 241 runs at an average of 30.1 and a strike rate of 88.6, registering just one half-century during that period. On the other hand, Kohli has been in phenomenal form of late, scoring runs for fun against South Africa, New Zealand and now England.
Selection committee chairman Agarkar, who is travelling with the team as the designated touring selector, is believed to be aligned with the panel's broader vision of building towards the next World Cup, and hence the call on Rohit has been taken.
The focus is on providing consistent opportunities to promising opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who impressed with two centuries in his last three innings for the Men in Blue.
"There are close to 20 ODIs before the World Cup, and the selectors want Jaiswal to get an extended run in the side. That continuity is important for his development," a senior BCCI source told PTI.
The source also added that no one on the board intends to ask Rohit to announce his retirement, but the selectors are looking ahead.
Rohit's future has also been the subject of differing accounts in recent months, particularly around his Test retirement. Individuals close to Rohit have insisted that he had made himself available for all five Tests against England and never intended to feature in only the opening two matches. However, when he didn't receive clarity from the committee, he announced his retirement from the format last year.