ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Transition to kick in for Team India, many senior players to retire from T20s - Source
ICC T20 World Cup 2022: India was embarrassingly knocked out of the semis by England. Meanwhile, BCCI sources have confirmed that there will be a transition, and many senior Indian players might retire from the format.
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FollowIndia's Twenty20 (T20) squad will transition significantly in the next 24 months. Senior players such as skipper-cum-opener Rohit Sharma, former skipper and top-order batter Virat Kohli and all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin will be gradually eased out, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources briefed PTI on Thursday. While it appears that Ashwin and veteran wicketkeeper-finisher Dinesh Karthik have played their last games in the shortest format, the BCCI will leave it to Kohli and Rohit to decide on their T20I future. After the team's humiliating defeat in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final, a visibly upset Rohit was consoled by head coach Rahul Dravid, who fronted the media after the match.
The next T20WC is two years away, and if those privies to developments are to be believed, there will be a brand new team in place, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya being the long-term captaincy choice. "The BCCI never asks anyone to retire. It is an individual decision. But yes, with just a handful of T20Is scheduled in 2023, most seniors will concentrate on ODIs and Test matches in that cycle," a BCCI source notified.
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"You don't need to announce retirement if you don't want to. You will not see most of the seniors playing T20 next year," added the source. However, Dravid communicated that it was too early to talk about transition when PTI asked him about the future of senior players like Kohli and Rohit.
"It's too early to talk about it right now, just after a semi-final game. These guys have been terrific performers for us. As you said, we have a couple of years to reflect on it," Dravid articulated. While some players have been contemporary game greats, Dravid doesn't want anyone to write them off in haste.
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"There are some outstanding quality players here, so there are better times to talk about this stuff or think about this stuff right now. We'll have enough games, enough matches as we go on ahead, and India will try and build and prepare for the next World Cup," the head coach added.
It is understood that for the next year, the T20Is will take a back seat as India play at least 25 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) going into next year's 50-over ICC World Cup at home. A look at India's Future Tour Program (FTP) calendar shows that till the 50-over CWC, the team will play only 12 T20Is in the form of bilateral events (home and away), starting with three games in New Zealand next week.
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With young opener Shubman Gill included in the side and young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant (vice-captain for the tour) also a keen opener, the grammar of PowerPlay batting might change. Not to forget a phenomenally talented young opener Prithvi Shaw, who has been repeatedly ignored in Dravid's stint as coach.
Rohit and Kohli are huge names, and the BCCI will likely leave it up to them to decide about charting the course for the next phase of their careers. Rohit is 35 now, and in two years, at the age of 37, he is not expected to lead a T20I team in a global meet.
In the case of Karthik's role as a designated finisher, it was a short-term arrangement keeping in mind the T20WC. As far as Ashwin is concerned, there was no severe threat perception in the minds of the opposition batters during the tournament. Three of his six wickets in six games came in the Zimbabwe match, and an economy rate of 8.15 was nothing to write home about.
Young all-rounder Washington Sundar, who before his plethora of injuries had cemented his place, will now get a longer rope. The only harsh call will be on wicketkeeper-opener KL Rahul, whose strike rate of 120.75 reflected everything wrong with the Indian team. He is the only opener among top teams who have played two maiden overs and has failed to get into double digits against any top side (four vs Pakistan, nine vs South Africa, nine vs England) in big games.
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Rahul has failed to change his game despite a lot of criticism, and his non-performance has been so glaring that it will be difficult to ignore when the selectors meet to pick the team for a T20I series against Sri Lanka.
Paddy Upton's contract ends
Mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton's contract with the Indian team has ended with the conclusion of India's T2WC campaign. Upton's second stint with the Indian team hasn't yielded the desired results, as the team came a cropper at the Asia Cup and T20WC.
(With inputs from PTI)
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