"Both have been given free hand, that 'you can exclude yourself'"- Basit Ali questions Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma skipping domestic cricket
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for giving a free hand to stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from domestic cricket participation. The Board has made it mandatory for all players to play domestic games to be eligible for national selection.
However, the legendary duo skipped the 2024 Duleep Trophy, which several others in the Test side played. Questions have been doing the rounds on social media following India's home Test series whitewash (0-3) against New Zealand, especially the dismal showing by Kohli and Rohit.
Speaking on his YouTube channel 'Basit Ali,' the 52-year-old said:
"It was the mandate that you must make yourself available for domestic cricket to be eligible for India selection. Everyone played domestic, all of them performed in patches - Shubman Gill, Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal...but dono (Rohit and Virat) ko free hand diya hua that (both have been given free hand), that 'you can exclude yourself.'"
He added:
"Virat Kohli, out of touch, not in form at all. He needs to play domestic (cricket) before flying to Australia; Rohit also. Test-match pratice can't be seen (in their batting)."
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma combined to score two half-centuries (one each) in 12 innings during the New Zealand series with batting averages of 15.50 and 15.16, respectively.
"I wasn’t at my best with both bat and as a captain, that’s something that’ll rankle me" - Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma acknowledged that his batting and captaincy weren't on point, resulting in India's shocking 0-3 defeat to New Zealand at home.
The 37-year-old has struggled with the bat in Tests, averaging under 14 in his last 10 innings. Rohit was also criticized by experts for his captaincy moves throughout the three-Test series.
"From a personal point of view, I wasn’t at my best with both bat and as a captain, that’s something that’ll rankle me. But, we didn’t perform well collectively and that’s the reason for these losses. There are certain ideas, certain plans on my mind when I go to bat, but in this series, it didn’t come off and that’s disappointing for me," Rohit said (via News18).
The whitewash has massively hurt India's chances of advancing to a third consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) final after they slipped to second on the standings.
Rohit Sharma's men will now have to regroup and win by a margin of 4-0 or better in the upcoming five-Test series in Australia to control their WTC final hopes.