"In the last two years..,": Rohit Sharma reveals why he along with Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja aren't playing T20Is

Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have not played a T20I after India’s debacle in T20 World Cup 2022.

In a change of strategy and planning to build a stronger different setup for India’s T20I squad, senior players are staying away from cricket’s shortest format of the game. Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not part of India’s T20I squad, while the selectors try out options eyeing the next T20 World Cup in West Indies and the US next year.

Hardik Pandya has been leading the Indian team in T20Is after the T20 World Cup 2022 and now selectors have announced Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the Ireland tour. Bumrah will be making his comeback in cricket and that too as a leader of the squad against Ireland in the latter half of August. 

Indian captain Rohit Sharma recently made a statement regarding senior players’ absence from the team and said, as the players are getting ready for the World Cup 2023 it is not possible to play in all three formats. Rohit Sharma proving his point further said, “Last year we also did the same thing, the T20 World Cup was there, so we didn’t play one-day cricket. Now also we are doing the same, the ODI World Cup is there, so we are not playing T20Is.” He also said that they can’t play everything and be ready for mega events like the World Cup in the same year. 

‘Jadeja is also not playing, why not asking him?’

Rohit also questioned the media’s focus only on himself and Virat Kohli. Pointing out at Ravindra Jadeja, the Indian skipper added, “Ravindra Jadeja is also not playing T20Is you did not ask him? I understand the focus (on him and Virat only) but Jadeja is also not playing. In a World Cup year, we want to keep everyone fresh, already we had so many injuries in the team that I am scared of injuries now.” Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul all got injured and have been away from the cricketing action for a long time. 

BCCI and Indian team management are working towards keeping the workload management of Indian players in check. Revealing the details, Captain Rohit said, “We discussed with the BCCI also that we need to look after the players well. Whenever we have an opportunity to rest players, we will rest players and rotate them. We don’t want anyone to miss the key events. A Couple of our key players missed some big events in the last two years and we don’t want that.” Rohit Sharma will come back along with Virat and Jadeja in the Asia Cup 2023. 

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