India National Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar, are all set to revolutionize Indian cricket by bringing in Aussie-style culture.
This new culture brings bad news for the modern-day batting greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who find themselves out of the scheme of things for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027.
Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar to bring Aussie culture to India
According to the latest report in PTI, Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar have become two of the strongest individuals in Indian cricket, and they have decided to bring a ruthless Aussie-style culture to India.
Your daily dose of cricket!
But what exactly is the Aussie-style culture? It is basically building a culture where there is no room for favoritism based on star power, and all the players are treated equally, with performance being the main criterion of selection.
Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar also have the same kind of thinking that the stars don’t make good teams, but good teams create stars, as per the report. Also, the duo is receiving full support from someone very powerful in the Indian cricket ecosystem.
The duo got into action after India’s horror run in Test cricket against New Zealand and Australia, where the Men In Blue faced crushing defeats. First, Rohit Sharma was sacked as Test skipper, then Virat Kohli was phased out from the format – maybe at his own will.
This led to new faces making it into the side and Shubman Gill getting the Test captaincy. A young Indian team performed well in the Test series in England without Kohli and Rohit Sharma and managed to pull off a 2-2 draw.
Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir not keeping Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli in World Cup plans
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma has been sacked as the ODI captain ahead of the Australia tour, with Shubman Gill getting the leadership. However, Rohit and Kohli are both named in the ODI squad for the matches against the Aussies.
The single-format players – Rohit and Kohli – might wish to extend their ODI careers till the next ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2027, but might not get the support from the selection committee and the head coach.
Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir feel that Rohit and Kohli are not in their scheme of things for the 2027 World Cup. They also feel that the duo can’t maintain a top-level ODI form till 2027 by only playing a few ODIs and IPL games.
Thirdly, Shubman Gill, being the all-format skipper, offers BCCI a chance to create a solid role model going into the next decade. Notably, he is currently the Test and ODI captain and will take over as T20I skipper post-T20 World Cup 2026, irrespective of the result of the competition.
The aforementioned things all but confirm that Rohit Sharma’s international cricket career is about to end sooner rather than later. Talking about Virat Kohli, he is regarded as one of the fittest cricketers, but finds himself in the same situation as Rohit Sharma.
However, his case is not as bleak as when compared with Rohit’s; the selection committee thinks that he still might have an “outside chance” to make it to the World Cup 2027.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli stripped of special privileges; 2027 World Cup dream collapsing fast
Ajit Agarkar opens up on Rohit Sharma’s sacking
Speaking at the press conference, Ajit Agarkar bluntly said that he had a conversation with Rohit Sharma regarding his sacking, and his words gave a hint that the former India skipper wasn’t too happy.
“I mean that is a conversation between me and Rohit or us (selectors) and Rohit, but like I said of course it has been communicated,” Agarkar said.
“You have got to sometimes look at what is coming forward, where you stand as a team and eventually look at what is in the best interest of the team, whether it is now or maybe six months later, those are the calls that I suppose we have to make to put (things) in place,” Agarkar added.
