Ajit Agarkar said that the expectations from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli is now simple, which is to do what they have been doing for years - score runs. (AP Photo/File)It was a significant day in Indian cricket as the chairman of selectors for the men’s team, Ajit Agarkar, sat down to address the media after it was announced that Shubman Gill will be taking over from Rohit Sharma as the new ODI captain. The passing of the baton in the 50-over format means Rohit and Virat Kohli will be playing in the only format they are active in at the moment under a young captain who has only recently taken over the Test side. There were also other significant calls taken like the exclusion of Ravindra Jadeja.
Here’s everything that former India pacer Agarkar had to say:
I mean, that’s the format they are at the moment playing (Virat and Rohit). We picked them, but as far as 2027 World Cup is concerned. I don’t think we need to talk about it today. Obviously, with the captaincy change, that’s generally the thought. With regards to Jaddu, I mean, look, at the moment to take two left-arm spinners to Australia is not possible. He’s clearly in the scheme of things with how good he is. But there will be some competition for places. Of course, he was there in the Champions Trophy squad, because we took those extra spinners with the conditions there. At the moment, we could only carry one and get some balance in the team with Washi and Kuldeep there as well. And I don’t think we’re going to need more than that in Australia with spin. But he’s clearly in the scheme of things, Jaddu, with how good he is, what he offers us as a batter and a bowler, but particularly in the field as well. It’s a short series. You can’t accommodate everyone. And unfortunately, at the moment, he’s missing out. But it’s nothing more than that.
It’s practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning. Obviously, at some stage, you’ve got to start looking at where the next World Cup is. It’s also a format that is played the least now. So you don’t get that many games to actually give the next guy that much time to prepare himself or plan. And we’re two years away still. That might look like a long time. But we don’t quite know how many one-day games we might play. Closer to the World Cup, we might end up playing a little bit more than what we have. But the last one-day game we played was in March at the Champions Trophy. And the next one we play is in October 19. So it is a bit of a challenge with one-day cricket at the moment. Of course, the focus has been on T20 World Cup. But surely we’ll start planning for that World Cup to come. And it is very difficult to have three different captains for three formats in terms of not just selectors, but more importantly, even for the coach, to plan with three different people is never easy.
He’s been vice captain in one-day cricket for a while now. It’s not just the England series. Whenever the next guy takes over, it ideally should be the vice captain. Doesn’t always work out that way. But obviously, what he’s shown in England was really good positive signs, and we are very hopeful.
He’s still quite young. Look, I mean, we saw what he did in England under immense pressure. So there were really positive signs there. You’ve seen his record in one-day cricket as a batter. We hope there’s no burnout. It is true there’s a lot of cricket coming thick and fast over the next few months in particular. Him particularly, but the team management as well, we’ll try and manage it as best as we can. But you also want to, like I said, give the guy enough time to try and prepare going into that next World Cup, which is 24 months away, but may not be that many games. So you want to give him the best possible chance.
At the moment, Rohit and Gill are likely to open. There’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, you know, people tend to forget how good he is as well. And Tilak’s very close. Again, we’ve taken a 15-man squad. It’s a three-match series. It’s not like a test series where you can carry a few extra which you might need. You may not end up needing more than those. And you’re not going to make too many changes in three games that you play. It’s a short series. We’ve got a few more one days coming after that. We’ll see how we can try and rotate players. But they’re both excellent players and putting up their case. But at this point, there’s no real place here.
They’ve both done whatever the fitness tests or the fitness norms that have been suggested. As far as I know or the selectors know, they’ve gone through the required norms that have been put in place. Yeah, so I haven’t heard anything other than that. And generally before selection, we give names out to the COE, who tells us about the fitness status of all the players and who’s been picked has been declared fit and available.
Yeah, we’ve already rested him for the one-day games (in Australia). I mean, when we can manage his workload, we will do that. Like I said in the previous press conference, there was what, a month and a half or close to that, five weeks or something since that Manchester test that he played. Wherever you can give him a break, you will, because we all know how important he is. But we’ve also got to see what’s in the interest of the team. And when we need him to play, he’s always available. So, but we will look after, not just him. Siraj bowls a lot of overs as well. There are other guys who, you know, who do play Test cricket, who will end up having a lot of bowling to do. So we try and manage all the seamers so that you minimize the risk of injuries.
Yeah, at the moment, he’s not going to be fit for Australia because of the injury that he picked up just before the finals in Asia Cup. We’ll know in due course how long he’s going to be out at this point. In a week’s time, he’s supposed to be there at the COE. And once he starts his rehab, we’ll probably get better timelines. But for Australia, he’s definitely not available.
I think that we’ve made it clear a couple of years back now, that whenever the guys are available, they should be playing domestic cricket. That’s the only way you’ll keep yourself sharp and playing cricket, if you’ve got a long enough break. Whether that’s possible with the international cricket you’re playing or not, that only time will tell. But if guys are free, I mean, that’s, they should be playing domestic cricket.
Even if he had not won the Champions Trophy, it would have been a difficult decision because of how good he’s been for India. But you’ve got to sometimes look at what’s coming forward, where you stand as a team, and eventually look at what’s in the best interest of the team, whether it’s now or maybe six months later. Those are the calls that I suppose we are put in place to make. And like I said, it’s tough with one-day cricket at this point because if you’re going to make that call, you want to try and make it reasonably early and give the other guy enough chance to try and get that confidence of leading another format. So that was the idea, but it’s always tough. And someone who’s been very successful, you have to make that decision.
It’s more (due to) position (that he’s not in the squad). I mean, Sanju Samson bats at the top of the order. I think when he got a hundred, I think he batted number three, if I’m not wrong. Jurel usually bats low down the order. KL bats there as well. You’ve seen how good a player Dhruv is. So again, you’re looking at spots. I don’t think there’s room at the top again. So we’re looking at guys who can fit in those spots. And obviously, Sanju at the moment in T20 cricket is batting there and we’re trying him there. But in one-day cricket, it’s a little bit different. So that’s basically the thought. It’s more the position than anything else.
Hardik’s missing out through injury. Again, shown a lot of promise. We’ve seen more in test cricket so far. It gives us an opportunity to see what he can do in white ball cricket. We don’t have a whole lot of guys who can bat and bowl both because it’s a difficult job to do both. And he’s certainly showing promise and we’ll probably see a bit more of him when he does bowl in white ball cricket and bat.
I mean, what they’ve been doing for years, try and score runs. I don’t think that changes. You’re still playing for your country. They are still leaders in that dressing room but eventually it’s the runs and they’ve scored tons of them, both of them, and been extremely successful in this format. So we hope they keep doing it and you don’t have to think too far at this point. The team is picked for Australia and we need them to score runs like they have been throughout their career. Those are two really experienced guys who’ve been around for a long time. So they would perhaps find it a little bit alien just to play one format, which is played the least, but they’re probably the guys to answer that. And we’ll find out a bit more when we see them in Australia playing. There’s no doubt about their quality as players. Whether not playing a lot of cricket makes a difference: One, you should ask them and we’ll find out when they play, but it doesn’t happen too many times. And even if it happens, a lot of the guys these days end up playing either test cricket or T20, which obviously in terms of matches is a lot more than one day cricket. So whether it’s a challenge or not, we’ll find out and they probably will be better equipped to answer.
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