BCCI Backs Rohit Sharma, Looks Like Ajit Agarkar & Co Out Of The Picture!

As expected, Rohit Sharma was selected in the Men in Blue squad for the three-match one-day international series against the West Indies. There has been a lot of chatter about his selection for the 2027 ICC World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The media went to town predicting that the third game against England at Lord’s two months ago would be his last, but a flat deck at the famous venue near St John’s Wood and a dropped catch inside 10 runs saw Sharma lash out and post a 110-ball 138 in a match India lost and the series 1-2. The go-for-broke knock gave him a lease of life, extending his career into its 20th year. His teammates after his debut (from 23 June against Ireland in Belfast) to 31st December 2007) have taken a bow from the game and progressed in life to hold positions in the BCCI set-up, like Ajit Agarkar, who is the chairman of selectors now, and Gautam Gambhir, who is the Head Coach of the team. Clearly, from the whispers in the grapevine, it appears that the Selection committee might be wanting Sharma – he will be 40 next April – to go and make way for younger batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, and maybe Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to get matches under their belt before the 50-over World Cup in Africa. But the selection committee appears to be “out of the picture”, with a couple of bigwigs calling the shots. The BCCI Secretary, Devajit Saikia, went so far as to say that “he (Sharma) is batting superbly.” Sharma and Virat Kohli’s selection crops up once in a while these days, with both having retired from Test match cricket and Twenty20. Both are assets to the team, but for how long?