Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar NEW DELHI:Rohit Sharma getting the ax as ODI captain, months after leading India to the Champions Trophy title, and removing Hardik Pandya from the white-ball helm, weeks after he was vice-captain for the 2024 World T20, were the most notable decisions made by men’s selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar. Rohit’s participation in the 2027 ODI World Cup has already been much talked about and Agarkar & Co. further fueled the speculation mill.The man who led India to the 2023 ODI World Cup final, the 2024 T20 World Cup title and the 2025 Champions Trophy title has been sacked as the ODI captain citing the confusion that different captains would create for different formats. Even if he was the man under whom India lost just one match in three ICC tournaments and changed the way India approached the 50-over format. The top scorer in the Champions Trophy final played his next match for India without the captain’s armband. With their eyes on the 2027 FIFA World Cup, voters were ready to drop crucial advice.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!
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Agarkar gave his reasons for Gill’s move, tried to back it up with cricketing logic, but lost his words when asked about communication with Rohit about the captaincy change.
Former India captain Rohit Sharma
“It’s a conversation between me and Rohit. But of course it was communicated,” was his shortest answer during a press conference in Ahmedabad.Rohit was indeed ‘communicated’ and that is the least the selectors could have done, but when events unfolded as they did in the middle of the India-West Indies Tests, it was not an ideal dialogue. The kind of dialogue that was required before this drastic step.The move has been in the works for months, right from The Oval Test in England, but Rohit, who has been busy shedding extra pounds to be ready for the Australia ODIs, has certainly sprung a surprise. A natural sense of betrayal followed, especially after the Mumbaikar repeatedly mentioned preparing for the multinational event in 2027. At 38, he still had a renewed fire in his belly to fulfill his ultimate dream of lifting the over-50 title – something he came agonizingly close to in 2023 – but even he wasn’t expecting so soon.It was not the first instance of chaotic changes at the captaincy; something similar unfolded when Suryakumar Yadav became the T20I captain, giving Hardik Pandya the role. Pandya was Rohit’s stand-in in the format and was considered a strong contender to lead the white-ball group, but the selectors decided to look at SKY’s route ahead of the limited-overs series vs Sri Lanka.
Suryakumar Yadav and AJit Agarkar
Even during this period, it was learned that Agarkar had assured a senior BCCI official that he would talk to Pandya about the move, but nothing happened. India’s leading all-rounder was kept in the dark while the selection committee planned the next steps, with “availability” flagged as a red flag by the decision-makers. The player who led Gujarat Titans to the title in his debut season, finished runners-up the following year, was Rohit’s deputy in the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup, was removed due to fitness and availability concerns.“He (Hardík) is still a very important player for us and we want him to be the player he can be because that kind of skill is very difficult to find. Fitness has been a challenge for him in recent years and then it becomes a bit more difficult for the coach or even for us, the selectors.”
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What do you think was the main reason behind Hardik Pandya’s removal as T20 captain?
“Now we have a bit more time until the next World T20 where we can look at a few things. It’s not rushed at the moment. He’s an important player for us and performances are more important. That was the thinking behind it. Fitness is a clear challenge and we want someone who is likely to be available more often than not,” Agarkar said in July 2024.Suryakumar Yadav’s batting stock has been on a bear run ever since he became the T20I captain, but that never bothered Agarkar. He wanted the captain to “be available more often than not”, and when Hardik asked for a break from ODIs in Sri Lanka, it gave the think tank another reason to take the call.Whether Rohit and Hardik’s call-up stands the test of time and pressure will be clear in the next two ICC tournaments, with one – the 2026 T20 World Cup – just months away.
