The future of a number of India's senior players will be decided after the tour of Australia as the BCCI reviews the shock 0-3 thrashing of New Zealand on home soil while rolling out a structured phase-out policy before the start of the next WTC cycle. There is a strong possibility that the five-match Test series against Australia could be the last for at least two of the four seniors under Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, who are in the final stages of their international careers . . “Look, I don't think we can look that far ahead. It is important to focus on the next series which is Australia,” Rohit said when asked about his thoughts on the future of the Test in India as there there is only so much time left in his captaincy.
“I'm not going to look beyond the Australian series. The Australian series is very important to us now. We will try to focus on that rather than thinking about what happens next,” he said.
An informal discussion could take place between BCCI chiefs and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Rohit on the way forward for an aging team.
“There will certainly be some stock taking and it could be informal as the team leaves for Australia on November 10. But this has been a huge debacle but now that the Australian series is around the corner and the squad has already been announced, there will be no tinkering,” a senior BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
“But if India fail to qualify for the WTC finals in England, you can be sure that all four super seniors will not be on that flight to Britain for the subsequent five-Test series. In any case, they probably all four played their last Test together at home,” the source added.
Clearly, the BCCI is not keen on repeating the saga of 2011 when it suddenly became apparent that an old team was not up to par and hence the selectors, especially chairman Agarkar and head coach Gambhir, would have to discuss the plan with the senior cricketers talk. forward.
If India don't want to have to rely on other calculations to qualify for the WTC final, a 4-0 result Down Under would be needed, which seems all but impossible at the moment.
India can still qualify after losing the Border Gavaskar Trophy if other teams don't do well.
But once the Australia series is over and India fail to qualify – the next cycle begins with five Test series in England from June 20 next year in Leeds – the selection committee may be forced to look at the long-term prospects with opportunities given to the likes of Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, who look ready for international cricket.
With Washington Sundar becoming a strong prospect for the next decade, Ashwin's future with the Whites in India could be in question once the series in Australia is over.
Jadeja, with better fitness and handy batting on foreign circuits, could continue, although there is a replacement for Indian conditions in Axar Patel, with Manav Suthar third in the pecking order.
In the case of batsmen, between February 2021 and the current match, skipper Rohit Sharma scored 1210 runs from 35 innings in home Tests at an average of 37.81 with four hundreds, but in the last 10 innings there were six scores of less than 10 runs and two scores below 20, with two half-centuries.
During the same period, Virat Kohli played 25 innings at home for 742 runs at an average of 30.91, and a century on a flat card in Ahmedabad.
“No doubt, pitches will be much better to hit in Australia, but it will be difficult to remove doubts about yourself after this kind of humiliation,” said a former selector.
While Kohli's excellent fitness may exceed his call-up despite poor results for almost four years, you won't see Rohit playing beyond this World Test Championship cycle.
Jasprit Bumrah has been named vice-captain but he may not be the long-term solution due to his workload management, with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant being the two candidates who look suitable for Test leadership.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article