BCCI trying to hand over the T20 captaincy to Rohit Sharma again

T20 captaincy: Before announcing the team of all three formats for the South Africa tour on Thursday, the top officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will also try to convince Rohit Sharma to take charge of the T20 team again. Rohit had distanced himself from the T20 format after losing in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 last year. BCCI Secretary Jay Shah will meet Selection Committee Chairman Ajit Agarkar in which apart from the teams of all three formats, there will also be a discussion on preparing an outline for the T20 World Cup to be held next year.

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BCCI trying to hand over the T20 captaincy to Rohit Sharma again

Regular T20 captain Hardik Pandya will not be able to return for the next month due to injury and in such a situation BCCI has no option but to keep Suryakumar Yadav as the captain or hand over this responsibility to Rohit. Rohit has earlier said that he does not want to play in the T20 format at the international level, but the way he captained in the recent ODI World Cup, BCCI feels that he should be allowed to play till the T20 World Cup be held in June-July next year. The captaincy of this shorter format should also be handled.

BCCI: If Rohit does not agree then Suryakumar will captain the T20 series in South Africa.

A BCCI source said, ‘The question still remains as to what will happen upon Hardik’s return, but BCCI believes that if Rohit agrees to take charge of the T20, he will remain the captain till the next T20 World Cup. If Rohit does not agree, then only Suryakumar will captain the T20 series in South Africa.’ It is necessary to mention that Virat Kohli has demanded to be given a rest from the limited-overs series to be held in South Africa, as far as Kohli is concerned. If so, it will depend on his performance in IPL. The same thing will apply to KL Rahul also.

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Rahul and Shreyas Iyer will return

The second question is related to workload management because India has to play six limited-overs matches within 11 days. These also include three ODIs, which he has to play within five days. The test series will start within five days of this on 26th December. As far as the Test team is concerned, Rahul and Shreyas Iyer will return. Ajinkya Rahane may be dropped, while there is little chance of Cheteshwar Pujara’s return.

Rahane will be able to make a place in the team

If Rahul also handles the responsibility of wicketkeeper, then only in this situation Rahane will be able to make a place in the team. Jasprit Bumrah is also keen to play Test cricket and he will take charge of the fast bowling department along with Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur. Mukesh Kumar can be kept as a reserve fast bowler. Ravindra Jadeja will be the first choice spinner as usual in foreign conditions. To accompany him, either Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, or Kuldeep Yadav will be selected. Wicketkeeper KS Bharat has had a very disappointing performance in batting and he can be selected only if Rahul does not take up the responsibility of wicketkeeping.