Rohit Sharma denies reports of T20 WC selection meeting
India skipper Rohit Sharma rubbished reports of him holding a meeting with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Rahul Dravid to discuss the T20 World Cup 2024 squad selection earlier this month.
The Mumbai batter denied the media reports and urged the fans to not believe in speculations and rumors. Rohit laughed off speculations of him opening the batting with Virat Kohli during the marquee event in June. He joked about the speculation about team selection in the media, saying that Ajit Agarkar had been keeping himself busy by playing golf in Dubai and head coach Rahul Dravid was training his sons, giving them cricket practice on a red soil pitch in Mumbai.
“I haven’t met anyone. Ajit Agarkar is somewhere in Dubai, playing Golf. Rahul Dravid is watching his kid play in Bengaluru. He was in Mumbai, actually. He was. He got him to play on a red soil wicket here at CCI (Cricket Club of India). That’s about it,” Sharma told Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan in the latest episode of Club Praire Fire Podcast.
“We haven’t met, to be honest. In today’s day and age, unless you hear it from either myself, Rahul himself, Ajit himself, or someone from the BCCI coming and talking in front of the camera, everything is fake,” he added.
A section of the media claimed on Wednesday, April 17 that Rohit met with Agarkar and Dravid earlier in April to discuss some important selection matters, including the need for Hardik Pandya to bowl more often in IPL 2024. The reports also claimed that Kohli and Rohit would open in the T20 World Cup for India, which will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the USA.
Kohli is the leading run-getter in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as he has amassed 361 runs from seven matches at an average of 72.20. Meanwhile, Rohit has scored 261 runs from six matches at 52.20, scoring a century for the Mumbai Indians in their last game against Chennai Super Kings. Meanwhile, Hardik has struggled to live up to his potential, having scored just 131 runs from six innings at an average of 26.20 and picking up three wickets at an economy rate of 12.
The kind of stuff Rishabh Pant does behind the stumps makes you laugh: Rohit Sharma
Former England captain Vaughan asked Rohit to name one player whom he would like to have in the squad just for the sake of entertainment. The 36-year-old picked Rishabh Pant because of his sense of humour, especially when he is keeping wickets.
“All these guys are quite crazy to be honest. If anyone, who makes me laugh, then it’s Rishabh Pant. He is one crazy guy. I have been watching him since he was a kid. I was quite disappointed when he missed a year-and-a-half due to that accident. He is quite witty. The kind of stuff he does behind the stumps makes you laugh. He has got his own way of doing this, this is what I like about it,” Rohit said.
After agonizingly losing the ODI World Cup 2023 final at home, India would want to end their drought in International Cricket Council (ICC) events with a triumphant run in the impending T20 World Cup.
