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BCCI's message to Rohit Sharma: 'Focus on your fitness and performance. Avoid reacting to speculation about future'
After the ODI series against South Africa, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will face a crucial review regarding their futures in 50-over cricket.
India’s ODI series against South Africa hasn’t even begun, but the real turning point may arrive only after it ends.
Once the three matches are done, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are expected to walk into a very different kind of contest - a closed-door review of their 50-over futures.
BCCI’s Ro-Ko question after South Africa
According to a report in the Times of India, the BCCI is planning a meeting in Ahmedabad after the third ODI, bringing together board officials, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar to draw up a clear roadmap for Rohit and Kohli with the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind.
The first agenda is clear. As quoted by TOI, a board source told, “it is very important that players of Rohit and Kohli’s stature are given clarity on expectations and how the current management sees their roles, adding that “they can’t just be playing with uncertainty.” The same source revealed that Rohit has already been told to “just focus on his fitness and performance” while “avoiding” any reaction speculation over his future.
Underneath the respect is a hard cricketing worry: rhythm. With Rohit and Kohli now essentially one-format internationals, they join ODI squads after long gaps. Insiders pointed to the recent Australia ODIs - yes, they scored in the third game, but “the series was already lost”, the match had been “set up by the bowlers”, and both had “looked rusty in the first two matches.” The warning line inside the board is simple: “One can’t afford that in every series.”
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Rohit Sharma’s batting style is also on the discussion table. The team still expects him to play “his aggressive brand of cricket” from the Champions Trophy phase - attacking early and dictating tempo. In Australia, it was noticed that he took more time than usual to get in and seemed to be “avoiding taking risks”. The expectation now is that he “continues to lead by example as a fearless batter at the top of the order.”
But Rohit and Virat Kohli, however, are still viewed as central pillars of the ODI batting group. Sources stress that they are “expected to lead the batting to make it easier for the rest of the younger batters around them”, not merely fight for their own spots.
The other pressure point is game time outside internationals. The board would, ideally, have liked them to play some cricket in England during the summer. Instead, they are likely to be urged to appear in the Vijay Hazare Trophy next month, before a home limited-overs series against New Zealand and a three-match ODI tour of England in July - India’s next major 50-over assignment.
For now, the South Africa series is the stage. But the real story may be what comes after: a frank conversation where India’s two modern giants and the men who pick them try to decide how long this ODI partnership can really run.
