Jay Shah keeps Rohit Sharma-T20 World Cup ambiguity alive with major 'clarity' remark

There is a lot of ambiguity over Rohit Sharma's future in T20I cricket and possible inclusion in India's T20 World Cup squad. Ideally, it would have been a no-brainer given that he still is India's all-format captain. But given that 36-year-old has been absent from the format for over a year, and continues to be away from T20Is with BCCI yet to decide India's squad for the Afghanistan T20I series in January, questions over his World Cup inclusion has been raised. And BCCI secretary Jay Shah kept the speculations alive when he addressed the issue on Saturday.

Rohit has been out of the T20I side of India since the T20 World Cup semifinal loss against England in November 2022. It was initially thought as the captain's way of having his entire focus on ODI cricket with the 50-over World Cup slated to happen on October at home, with Rohit himself indicating at the start of this year that he isn't done with T20Is yet. Post the ODI World Cup, it was expected that Rohit would return for the series against South Africa if not against Australia, but he was not named in the squad for either ODIs or T20Is.

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Amid the rising speculation, Shah was asked to issue an clarification over BCCI's stance over the situation and if at all Rohit intended to return to T20Is. Speaking to media on the sidelines of the Women’s Premier League auction in Mumbai, he said: “What is the need to have clarity right now? It (T20 World Cup) is starting in June, we have the IPL before that and the series against Afghanistan."

According to a report by Dainik Jagran earlier this week, Rohit had joined a virtual meeting from London, where he was enjoying some quality time with his family, where Shah was present along with vice president Rajeev Shukla, and treasurer Ashish Shelar. Rohit had reportedly asked the BCCI officials whether he is part of India's T20 World Cup plans, to which the trio along with head coach Rahul Dravid and the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee agreed unanimously.

The report further added that BCCI wanted Rohit to be part of the South Africa T20I series, but he requested a break from the entire white-ball leg of the tour. Rohit will return to action as a captain in the two-match Test series that is slated to begin on December 26.