Rohit Sharma wants to focus on red-ball cricket, may shun playing T20Is in near future: Report

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Rohit Sharma is unlikely to play T20 Internationals anymore and had discussed his future in the shortest format before the start of the 50-over World Cup Rohit Sharma, India's ODI and Test captain is most unlikely to play T20 Internationals anymore and had discussed his future in the shortest format before the start of the 50-over World Cup, reported PTI on 22 November. Since India's T20 World Cup semi-final exit in November 2022, Rohit hasn't played a single game in the shortest format, while Hardik Pandya has mostly led the Indian team in T20Is from that time. According to stats, the 36-year-old India skipper has played 148 T20Is and scored 3853 runs at a strike-rate of nearly 140 with four centuries.

ALSO READ: ICC World Cup 2023: ‘We tried everything, but it wasn’t supposed to be’, says Rohit Sharma after WC loss "It is not a new development. Rohit hasn't played any T20Is in the past year as the focus was on the ODI World Cup. He had extensive discussions with the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar in this regard.

He has himself volunteered to stay away from T20Is. It has completely been Rohit's call," PTI quoted a senior BCCI official as saying. After Rohit, India have four openers – Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, and Ruturaj Gaikwad – and all of them are proven IPL performers.

The selectors or the BCCI brass may ask Rohit to reconsider his current stand if the younger players fail to perform. However, it may be understood that Rohit would like to manage his workload at this stage of his career and ensure that he remains mostly injury-free for the remainder of his career. It will be impossible for the Indian skipper to play three formats and IPL each year with seven Tests to be played between December