New Delhi: After India’s 1-3 loss against Australia in the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy series, many questions were raised on the side’s senior players, mainly Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, after a series of poor outings for the duo. Head coach Gautam Gambhir and his support staff’s role too has come under scrutiny.
But as things stand, all three will survive the debacle and BCCI sources told IANS that Rohit and Virat will remain in contention to represent the country in the Champions Trophy and the five-match Test series against England in June.
Both Rohit and Kohli have been a vital part and mainstay of India’s top-order for the past decade, and were crucial in the country winning their second T20 World Cup in June, but have heavily struggled since then.
According to IANS sources, a review of the recent performances will be conducted soon but the BCCI does not blame head coach Gautam Gambhir for the defeat.
“Yes, there will be a review meeting but no firing. C’mon, you can’t sack a coach for the batters’ poor show in one series. Gautam Gambhir will remain the coach, and Virat and Rohit will feature in the England series. The focus is Champions Trophy,” BCCI sources told IANS on Tuesday.
Kohli began the series on a high note, scoring a century in the opening Test in Perth. However, his form dipped drastically and he ended up with 190 runs in the series. He was dismissed eight times while chasing balls outside off-stump.
On the other hand, Rohit, who missed the Perth Test because of the birth of his second child, managed only 31 runs in three Tests, before opting to rest for the fifth match in Sydney.
At the end of the Sydney Test. Gambhir was questioned about Virat and Rohit’s future in the side, after the BGT series, but he remained adamant that the duo still have the ‘hunger and passion’ to represent the country. “I can’t talk about the future of any player. It is up to them as well. But yes, what I can say is that they still have hunger and passion, they are tough people. Hopefully, they can continue to take Indian cricket forward. But ultimately, as we all know, whatever they plan, it will be in the best interest of Indian cricket,” said Gambhir.
Since Gambhir was appointed head coach across all formats, India dominated the shortest format of the game but have struggled in Test cricket. Following a 2-0 home series win against Bangladesh, following which it seemed India had all but sealed a spot in their third consecutive World Test Championship final. However, a humiliating 0-3 loss against New Zealand followed, which was the nation’s first home-series defeat in 12 years. India were eliminated from WTC contention following the loss in the BGT.
India will host England for a white-ball series — five T20Is and three ODIs starting towards the end of January before they leave for Dubai for the forthcoming Champions Trophy. India’s next Test assignment will be the five-match Test series away in England in June.
–IANS
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