Former Indian batter and commentator Ravi Ashwin has questioned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, for waiting till August 2026 to inform Rohit Sharma about discontinuing with him in ODIs.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin insisted that the selection committee should have taken such a call well beforehand if they wanted to discontinue with Virat Kohli and Rohit from the 50-over set-up.
“By pure performance, they have not been poor at all. Virat has been excellent. Rohit has been more than decent. Why have we let it come till 2026 August? When there is only 10-12 months to go for the 2027 World Cup in South Africa. Why have we let it come this far? This is my only question,” Ravi Ashwin said on ‘Ash ki Baat’.
“I know Jaiswal is pushing hard from behind. But if you ever felt the selector, coach, captain, or whoever the decision maker is, if you felt in your mind that I am not taking these guys, we don’t want them for the 2027 World Cup, that would have been communicated at the end of the 2025 Champions Trophy. This communication is a double-edged sword. I know. The players would have felt bad. But at least when you are done, you will think maybe it was unfair, but at least the communication was there. In my mind, it was unfair, but at least the communication was there. I feel that has to happen clearly,” he added.
Furthermore, Ashwin advised the BCCI and the selection committee to respect the legendary cricketers Kohli and Rohit through direct communication channel. He went on to emphasize that Kohli has been in top-notch form while Rohit has not been too bad.
“Players like Rohit and Virat need to be respected. At least through communication. Even now, I am telling you, with 12 months to go, this is too late to make a call like this. You should have done it before. The way this is going, Virat also has to be on top of his game, unfortunately. He is batting beautifully. I have not seen him batting like this. But he has to stay on top of it. I hope it’s not the case. But I think Rohit has not been too bad,” he said.
“There should be a direct communication channel, and this can be done in a better way. If someone is a senior who has contributed and given a lot, you need to sit and talk with them in a nice manner. If someone is performing for two decades and has achieved so much for the country, at least make sure you show them the way properly, and there needs to be a good exit,” he added.
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