Follow UsRohit Sharma’s future as India’s ODI and Test captain and his central contract could depend on the result of the ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in Dubai on March 9 (Sunday), reported the Times of India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) want stability in the leadership department for the next two years.
There’s a T20 World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka, but Rohit has already announced his retirement from the format after winning the last edition. However, there’s an ODI World Cup in 2027, and with the next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle also on the horizon, India would want a stable captain. Rohit’s form in Test cricket has been terrible, but the opener has been impressive with the bat in the ODIs.
The BCCI have also not announced the fresh central contracts and according to the aforementioned portal, the announcement will only come after the Champions Trophy final. It’s being said that the board might want to move on from Rohit at least as captain in ODIs and Tests.
“Rohit still believes there is some cricket left in him. He has been told to communicate his plans going forward. Retiring is his call but there will be another discussion around continuing with captaincy. Rohit himself understands the need to have a stable captain if the team wants to prepare for a World Cup. There have been talks with Kohli too but there doesn’t seem to be much anxiety around him,” a BCCI source told TOI.
“The board will wait for Rohit’s decision after the Champions Trophy. If by any chance he chooses to retire, then the board will see what needs to be done. One can’t discount the fact that he won the T20 World Cup in July and has led well in the Champions Trophy as well.”
There will also be a discussion about the national contracts of certain players. Currently, Rohit, Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja are the ones with the Grade A+ contracts. The top contract goes to players who play all three formats but apart from Bumrah, the remaining three have retired from the T20Is.
Axar Patel, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant could be promoted to the A category, while Shreyas Iyer is also set to earn back his central contract.