On Wednesday, while Team India takes the field in Dhaka against Bangladesh under KL Rahul’s captaincy as Rohit Sharma is back in India nursing his thumb injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will sit down for their Apex Council Meeting and could make a decision on Sharma’s T20I captaincy future.
India’s T20I captaincy is going to be a hot topic among others in BCCI’s meeting on Wednesday and the board could rule against Sharma to continue as India’s shortest-format captain.
In the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, India scrapped through to the semis courtesy of some magic by Virat Kohli against Pakistan and KL Rahul’s direct hit to run out Litton Das vs Bangladesh. But in the semis, they were given an embarrassing 10-wicket thrashing by England. Before that, India had also failed to reach the final of the Asia Cup in the UAE, losing to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Super 4.
The Apex Council meeting, which will be in online mode, will discuss these 5 subjects:
Split Captaincy: Rohit Sharma T20 captaincy, Hardik Pandya to be made full-time captain
Split Coaching: Rahul Dravid to let go of T20 coaching
Increment in the central contract
BCCI Selection Committee
Review of Nitin Patel and India’s physios besides fielding coach T Dilip
Hardik Pandya led the Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 title victory earlier in the year in the franchise’s maiden IPL season. This was also the first time Pandya was leading at higher-level cricket anywhere. Pandya has led India to 2-0 T20I series win in Ireland and then, after the T20 World Cup, a 1-0 T20I series win in New Zealand.
Rohit Sharma is nearing the age of 36 and is unlikely to play in the 2024 T20 WC. He has had to miss a significant amount of cricket in the past year due to rest for workload management or injuries. Since the ODI and Tests are more important in 2023 than T20I, Rohit is also likely to be rested from the majority of the T20I series next year.
So it makes sense if India appoints Hardik Pandya as the new T20I captain early in 2023, giving him ample of time to build a brand of cricket and give his player decent amount of game time.
The board could also opt to remove Rahul Dravid from the T20I captaincy and appoint a separate T20I head coach, allowing Dravid to focus on ODIs and Tests. Dravid also had taken a rest from a couple of tours this year, with VVS Laxman, the head of the NCA, filling in as the interim coach.
In the meeting, it may also be confirmed that the centrally contracted players will get a hike after five years. For the 2022–2023 season, BCCI is considering raising annual retainership by 10–20%. the selling of the huge IPL media and digital rights allowing them to relax their hand.
The council will also approve the appointment of a new selection committee. There could also be a discussion regarding the issue of frequent injuries of the players. So a review of Nitin Patel, India’s physio, besides fielding coach T Dilip could be done in the meeting.
It has been reported by InsideSport that the BCCI is not happy with India’s support staff especially fielding coach T Dilip and the physio team. Although Nitin Patel is heading the NCA sports science center, BCCI could make a change in the support staff.
