Gambhir, BCCI officials to meet to review Australia tour, selectors to convene to pick CT squad

Mumbai: The future of leading batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be discussed threadbare in a meeting that head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar is scheduled to hold with BCCI officials to review the recent tour to Australia on Saturday.

The back-to-back series defeats against New Zealand (home) and Australia (away) and the diminishing returns with the bat have put Kohli and Rohit under scanner.

The PTI has learned that the powers that be will discuss in detail the future plan — whether to activate the transition switch from next month’s Champions Trophy or wait for the cycle to end with the ICC marquee event.

Though it’s likely that the senior batters will get another chance to redeem themselves at the ODI Champions Trophy, a format in which they have always excelled.

They may also take into consideration the fact that both Kohli and Rohit have played just three ODIs in 2024 after the 2023 World Cup at home, and that could be too light a sample size to make a final call on their 50-over career.

Both Kohli and Rohit endured different fortunes too in the series against Sri Lanka.

While Kohli amassed 24, 14 and 20 in Colombo, Rohit walked away with scores of 58, 64 and 35 against the Lankans.

But overall, Kohli has been a champion performer in 50-overs, his staple format and a good outing in the Champions Trophy could bring him, and Rohit too, back into a good frame of mind.

However, their Test future is different. The next assignment is an away five-match series against England, and the mandarins will certainly assess the drying runs from Kohli and Rohit in the traditional format.

In the most recent outing against Australia, Kohli, despite a hundred at Perth, could garner only 190 runs at an average of 23.75 while Rohit, who skipped the first Test and opted out of the fifth match, made 31 runs at 6.2.

Those performances will certainly be mooted thoroughly while seeking Gambhir’s views on their desire to continue playing the longest version of the sport.

Similarly, it is possible that the performance of the Gambhir-led coaching staff too could be assayed and asked about their vision to handle the transition period without any more hiccups.

Champions Trophy team selection

Apart from the review meeting, the selectors, led by Agarkar, will also convene on Saturday evening to pick the Indian squad for the Champions Trophy.

India will play all its matches in the UAE and will open the campaign with a match against Bangladesh on February 20.

However, it is unlikely that the team will be announced on this day itself, as the selectors have time till January 12 to release the squad.

They will assess the fitness level of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who is recuperating from back spasms, and veteran fast bowler Mohammed Shami.

Shami, who has not played since the ODI World Cup 2023 because of an ankle surgery, is likely to get a green signal from BCCI’s Centre of Excellence physics.

Shami has played in the Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy matches recently for Bengal to underline his increasing fitness levels and match readiness.

The other interesting point will be to see whether Yashasvi Jaiswal will get the nod after doing well in 19 Tests and 23 T20I since making his debut in mid 2023.

Team for England T20Is, ODIs

The selectors are also expected to discuss and pick the India squad for the five T20Is and three ODIs against England for the home series, beginning from January 22.

There could not be many surprises as the team that did duty in South Africa late last year could be picked up again for the T20Is.

Shami could be included in the ODIs depending on the fitness certificate from CoE, which is understood to be positive though it will be assessed deeply before taking a final decision.

Bumrah and fellow pacer Akash Deep, who will also be in CoE in Bengaluru for recovery from a back niggle, will miss the white ball series against England.

Jaiswal will certainly feature at least one of the squads though, along with Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who impressed everyone with some gutsy outings Down Under.