"Not Possible To...": Rohit Sharma Breaks Silence On Skipping T20Is For India

India's designated skipper across all formats, Rohit Sharma, hasn't played a single T20I game since the conclusion of the 2022 T20 World Cup. Seeing the Indian team struggling in the T20Is against West Indies, questions over the absence of players like Rohit, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, etc. from the shortest format have intensified. Breaking silence over his T20I absence, Rohit admitted that it is 'not possible' for some players to play all formats, especially keeping this year's ODI World Cup in mind.

"At the moment I think it was made clear in the past that it's a 50-over World Cup year for us. And for some of the guys, it's not possible to play all formats. If you look at the schedule, there were back-to-back matches, so we decided on just looking at some players' workload that we wanted to make sure that they get enough break time and manage them. I definitely fall in that (category) as well," Rohit said at an event in the United States of America, as per Indian Express.

'Workload management' has been an important point of discussion in the Indian cricketing spectrum for a while now. With the fitness of key players like Rohit, Kohli, Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, etc. being key to the team's ODI World Cup plans, the selectors have been keeping the seniors away from the T20I squads.

In Rohit's absence, Hardik Pandya has been leading the Indian team in the shortest format. A number of former Indian cricketers also feel that Hardik could be handed India's T20I captaincy on full-time basis after the conclusion of the ODI World Cup this year.