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Cricket Players‘For some, playing all formats is not possible... I definitely fall in that category': Rohit Sharma on his T20I career
After missing the three-match series against Sri Lanka, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opened up about his T20I future on the eve of the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka.
From the last-minute departure of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah to India's selection conundrum, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma answered several buzzing questions in his pre-match press conference on the eve of the 1st One Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka in Guwahati. Returning to the Indian side after missing the the Bangladesh Tests and the Sri Lanka T20Is due to a dislocated left thum, Rohit, along with Virat Kohli, will lead the batting charge of the Indian side in the series opener against the reigning Asia Cup champions as hosts India begind their World Cup preparations at home on Tuesday.
Speaking at the press conference on Monday, Indian skipper Rohit revealed why Bumrah was ruled out of the entire series against Sri Lanka. Rohit also confirmed that premier batter Shubman Gill will open the innings with the veteran Indian opener in the three-match series. In the absence of senior opener Rohit and former vice-captain KL Rahul, youngsters Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill opened the innings for the hosts in the entire three-match T20I series against the Asia Cup holders.
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Under the leadership of stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya, Rohit-less Team India sealed a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka on Saturday. Rohit has not featured in India's T20I squad after the 2022 edition of the World Cup. However, the 35-year-old, who also agreed that is not possible for players like him to play all three formats consistently, has no plans to give up on the shortest format of the game. "We have only six T20Is, three are over. So we'll manage, you know to look after those boys till IPL. Then we'll see what happens after the IPL. But certainly, I've not decided to give up the format," Rohit told reporters.
Pandya, who recently replaced Rahul as Rohit's deputy is the leading candidate to lead India in the shortest format. Addressing the media ahead of the 1st ODI, India's all-format captain asserted that the hosts fielded a new-look team in the three T20Is against Sri Lanka owning to the workload management of seasoned campaigners.
"At the moment I think it was made clear in the past that it's a 50-over World Cup year for us. And for some of the guys, it's not possible to play all formats. If you look at the schedule, there were back-to-back matches, so we decided on just looking at some players' workload that we wanted to make sure that they get enough break time and manage them. I definitely fall in that (category) as well," Rohit added. In his first campaign as T20I captain at the World Cup, Rohit guided the Men In Blue to the semi-finals. The most-capped player at the T20 World Cup, Rohit has scored over 3,850 runs in 148 matches for the 2007 world champions.
