Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli era ends, panic begins - Kiran More rips into BCCI’s lack of planning

Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli era ends, panic begins (AP Photo)

With the announcement of the selection for the forthcoming five-Test series against England, the BCCI has put an end to weeks of conjecture over Rohit Sharma's replacement in Test cricket as well as additions to the Indian Test side. The Test retirements of Rohit and Virat Kohli, one month before the series was supposed to begin, were a shock to Indian cricket fans. The team had a huge hole to fill in terms of experience and leadership in addition to runs.

The BCCI and head coach Gautam Gambhir, however, came under fire from Kiran More, former chairman of selectors, who said that they were unable to predict the eventual Test exits of ex-captains Rohit and Kohli. Even though both players had extended periods of weakness in the longest format, More questioned the absence of a backup plan.

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During the previous home season, Rohit and Kohli had both struggled to turn starts into meaningful scores and had not been reliable contributors. Even in Australia, where Kohli scored a century to start the series, his form rapidly declined, and he ended up with a meager 190 runs from 10 innings.

“First thing, I'm surprised. The whole selection committee and coach should've thought about this, that this (transition) was going to come,” More told Follow the Blues on JioHotstar. “Now, suddenly, everybody has woken up and now they're asking who should be the next captain. They should've been prepared. I feel we haven't prepared for 1.5 years, this is a big wake up call for us.”

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Additionally, More expressed his disapproval of Shubman Gill as the replacement for Rohit as India's next Test captain, arguing that it would place undue pressure on the young player. More chose to support Rahul instead, valuing experience above youth.

“For me, Shubman Gill is a great player. But I wouldn't like to put pressure on it. I would like to go with KL Rahul. Shubman hasn't done that well in Test cricket, I would want Gill to be captain of one-day format first,” said More.