Gautam Gambhir, BCCI officials to meet to review Australia tour

The future of stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be discussed in the meeting that head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Garkar are scheduled to hold with the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI officials to review the concluded tour of AustraliaThe two consecutive Test series defeats against New Zealand and Australia and the struggling phase with the willow of Rohit and Kohli have put them under scannerThe PTI has learned that the powers that be will discuss in detail the future plan whether to activate the transition switch from next months Champions Trophy or wait for the cycle to end with the ICC marquee eventChampions Trophy 2025 discussionsHowever it is expected that the senior batsmen will get another chance to redeem themselves at the Champions Trophy 2025 The mega event will be played with 50 overs for each side and is the format in which the senior batsmen have always excelledThe fact that Rohit and Kohli have made their appearances in just three ODIs after the ODI World Cup 2023 will also be taken into considerationBoth Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma endured different fortunes too in the series against Sri LankaWhile Kohli amassed 24 14 and 20 in Colombo Rohit walked away with scores of 58 64 and 35 against the LankansBut overall Kohli has been a champion performer in 50overs his staple format and a good outing in the Champions Trophy could bring him and Rohit too back into a good frame of mindAlso ReadRahul Dravid turns 52 Know the records of Team Indias WallHowever their Test future is different The next assignment is an away fivematch series against England and the mandarins will certainly assess the drying runs from Kohli and Rohit in the traditional formatIn the most recent outing against Australia Kohli despite a hundred at Perth could garner only 190 runs at an average of 2375 while Rohit who skipped the first Test and opted out of the fifth match made 31 runs at 62Those performances will certainly be mooted thoroughly while seeking Gautam Gambhirs views on their desire to continue playing the longest version of the sportSimilarly it is possible that the performance of the Gautam Gambhirled coaching staff too could be assayed and asked about their vision to handle the transition period without any more hiccupsApart from the review meeting the selectors led by Agarkar will also convene on Saturday evening to pick the Indian squad for the Champions TrophyIndia will play all its matches in the UAE and will open the campaign with a match against Bangladesh on February 20 However it is unlikely that the team will be announced on this day itself as the selectors have time till January 12 to release the squadJasprit Bumrah Mohammed Shamis fitness updatesThey will also take into consideration the fitness update of lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah and star pacer Mohammed ShamiShami who has not played since the ODI World Cup 2023 because of ankle surgery is likely to get a green signal from BCCIs Centre of Excellence physicsThe selectors are also expected to discuss and pick the India squad for the five T20Is and three ODIs against England for the home series beginning from January 22There could not be many surprises as the team that did duty in South Africa late last year could be picked up again for the T20IsShami could be included in the ODIs depending on the fitness certificate from CoE which is understood to be positive though it will be assessed deeply before taking a final decisionBumrah and fellow pacer Akash Deep who will also be in CoE in Bengaluru for recovery from a back niggle will miss the white ball series against EnglandThere are high chances of Yashasvi Jaiswal featuring in at least one of the squads for the England series Along with the lefthander Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy who impressed in Australia might also receive the callupWith PTI Inputs