Rohit Sharma expected to take India future call at 'appropriate time'; Kohli's England tour fate depends on Shubman Gill

BCCI's selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, met on Saturday in a Mumbai hotel to not only pick the T20I squad for the upcoming five-match home series against England, but also discuss the future of two senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in the wake of the criticisms they faced after India's unprecedented whitewash at home by New Zealand and the 1-3 loss against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. India's Rohit Sharma (R) gestures next to Virat Kohli during day five of the third cricket Test match between Australia and India at The Gabba in Brisbane on December 18(AFP)

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the future of Kohli and Rohit was discussed in the BCCI review meeting which was attended by head coach Gautam Gambhir, the Indian captain himself, Agarkar, BCCI secretary-elect Devajit Saikia and newly-elected ICC Chairman Jay Shah. The latter was invited as he had conducted a review after the loss against New Zealand.

The report added that while BCCI officials left it up to the selectors to take the call on Rohit and Kohli, Agarkar and his committee are worried about the 37-year-old's dwindling numbers in Test cricket. Rohit scored just 164 runs in the last eight Test matches, comprising a solitary fifty. 31 of those runs came in the five innings he played in Australia, where he averaged just 6.2.

"That is not to say that Rohit’s “I am not going anywhere” statement is how things will ultimately transpire. The selectors are known to be worried about Rohit’s falling graph in Test cricket, but the understanding is that the captain will take a considered decision at the appropriate time," read the report.

Virat Kohli's fate depends on Shubman Gill

Kohli too has been under fire for his show in the series against Australia and New Zealand. Barring a century in Perth, the former India captain just managed 90 more runs to script a forgettable tour of Australia.

While selectors are also concerned about Kohli's form, the report added that his fate depends largely on how Shubman Gill performs in the months before India's next Test assignment—the tour of England in late June.

"With the five-Test series against England still five months away, the selectors are likely to sit over the matter before forming an opinion. Shubman Gill hasn’t settled into the Kohli role as he was expected to; nowhere close to how ready Kohli was when Sachin Tendulkar hung up his boots. This is something that will be factored in by Agarkar’s selection committee," the report said.

Gill also underperformed in the series against Australia, where he scored just 93 runs in five innings at 18.60 with no fifty. In fact, since his sensational show at the Gabba in the 2020/21 tour Down Under, the youngster's form outside Asia has been under scrutiny as he managed just 233 runs in 14 innings at 17.92 with no half-century scores.

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