Chetan Sharma, the chief selector on Friday said his committee did not want to take any chance with skipper Rohit Sharma for the upcoming three ODIs in South Africa as there are many important series inline in the near future and back to back T20I and ODI World Cup lined up in the next 2 years.
After a chat with the new white-ball captain, the selectors believed it would be prudent for Rohit Sharma to keep working on his rehab and fitness, instead of travelling with the team to South Africa.
Rohit Sharma, who was named ODI captain earlier this month replacing Virat Kohli, was to travel to South Africa as vice-captain for the Test series which began on December 26 but a hamstring injury during training ruled him out. He had taken charge as T20I captain against New Zealand last month.
Chetan Sharma: Selectors Decided That Rohit Sharma Should Continue Rehab
“This is the only reason we decided that he (Rohit) goes and do his rehab, work on his fitness, work on his muscles,” Chetan Sharma said at a media conference after announcing the team for the matches against South Africa.
All-rounder Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja were also not selected by the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee as they were not fit while senior pacer Mohammed Shami, who is in the team for the ongoing Test series, was rested. Another pacer Jasprit Bumrah was named vice-captain.
Chetan Sharma Had A Chat With Rohit Sharma Who Isn’t 100% Match Fit And Rested Him For SA ODIs As The Selectors Avoided Risk Of Injuring Him Again
Rohit Sharma, one of the finest white-ball exponents, was ruled out of the ongoing three-match Test series in South Africa after his old hamstring injury resurfaced during the team’s training session in Mumbai. In Rohit Sharma’s absence, the in-form KL Rahul will lead the 18-member squad in South Africa.
“There is so much cricket (happening). No player wishes for an injury, everybody wants to play, nobody gets injured intentionally. And this was the reason to stop Rohit from these three matches, that he is 100 percent fit, there is World Cup in front of you, there are important series in front of you, that is the reason.
“We had a good chat with Rohit, all selectors had a good chat with Rohit and that is the reason he is not going to South Africa and KL is the captain,” said Chetan Sharma.
Rohit Sharma has been doing his rehab at the Bengaluru-based National Cricket Academy. After the South Africa series, West Indies will visit India to play three ODIs and as many T20Is in February which will be a breakthrough series for the Caribbean side. Right after the West Indies series, Sri Lanka will come to India to play two Tests and three T20Is in February-March.
In June, South Africa will tour India to play a 5-match T20I series. The Indian camp will travel to the UK in July to play a limited-overs series which will have three T20I and three ODIs and the fifth Test which was postponed in 2021 has also been added to the fixture. IPL 2022 and T20I World Cup 2022 in Australia are also scheduled.
Indian Team For ODIs Against South Africa: KL Rahul (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, W Sundar, J Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj