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Cricket Players‘Why Kohli or Rohit cannot play’: Ganguly backs senior pros in India's T20 setup, urges BCCI to ‘pick your best players’
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been kept aside from the T20I setup ever since India's semifinal defeat against England at World T20 in Australia last year.
Ever since India's 10-wicket defeat against England at the World T20 in Australia last year, the management has kept Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma aside from the T20I setup. The same was seen in the squad announced for the West Indies series earlier this week as the duo have only been kept for the Tests and ODIs.
In Rohit's absence Hardik Pandya, who is projected as one of the probable to take the captaincy badge, will lead the side. Meanwhile Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma, who had an outstanding season in the last edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), have been given a chance.
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The decision to not keep the two seniors hints that the management is trying to make a transition in the shorter format keeping the next T20 World Cup in mind, which will be played in 2024.
When asked to Sourav Ganguly to share his views on the same, the former India captain and ex-BCCI president feels best players should be named in the squad irrespective of their reputation. He, however, feels both Rohit and Kohli can still be part of the T20I setup.
"Pick your best players, it doesn’t matter who they are. In my opinion, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma still have a place in T20I cricket and I cannot see why a Kohli or a Rohit cannot play T20I cricket. Kohli was in great form in the IPL, and both have place in T20 cricket, if you ask me," Ganguly told Revsportz in an interview.
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Interestingly, there has been no official announcement from either – the board or the players – over their T20I future. While Rohit failed to meet expectations, Kohli had an impressive outing in this year's IPL and ended as the season's fourth-highest run-scorer (639 runs in 14 matches).
If we look at Team India's next assignment, the tour gets underway with the Tests, followed by ODIs. After the conclusion of both, a five-match T20I series will get underway with the first encounter scheduled to be played on August 3.
