Rohit Sharma has been named India’s captain across all three formats. India’s chief selector Chetan Sharma named Rohit as India’s new Test captain - weeks after Kohli resigned following the series defeat in South Africa - while announcing the squads for the three T20Is against Sri Lanka and the two-Test series, against the same team, at home next month. The star opener was given the white-ball captaincy just a couple of months back. Chetan Sharma said that he considered Rohit Sharma the “No. 1 cricketer” in the country.
Meanwhile, Pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be Rohit’s deputy in both the T20I and Test series. KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Bumrah will be groomed as future captains under the 34-year-old’s leadership, according to Chetan Sharma.
The selectors have finally run out of patience with the struggling Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, whose poor form played a big part in India losing the Test series in South Africa. Both the senior batsmen have been dropped, along with two other veteran players in wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and pacer Ishant Sharma.
While the chief selector revealed that all four have been asked to play in the Ranji Trophy to regain their form, it’s understood that this could be the end of the road for at least three of them. “They could’ve been out of the South Africa series as well, but the team management wanted them to continue that time,” a source revealed.
Tests: Rohit Sharma (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin (subject to fitness), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-capt), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Saurabh Kumar. T20Is: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (vicecapt), Bhuveshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan.
T20I series:
Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar, Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan
