BCCI Likely to Rest Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Other Seniors For Proposed Afghanistan Series

Considering the upcoming series against West Indies, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are likely to rest senior players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and others for the proposed white-ball Afghanistan series.

As per PTI, rather than cancelling the Afghanistan series altogether due to the jam-packed schedule, there is a very strong possibility that a second-string Indian team will take part against Afghanistan keeping their Caribbean assignment in mind.

With the ongoing IPL 2023 season, followed by the World Test Championship (WTC) final, many senior players such as Kohli, Rohit and others would be rested before they leave for the Caribbean.

Hardik Pandya could be handed the captaincy duties yet again with the only window for the Afghanistan series between June 20-30.

With the president of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) Mirwais Ashraf having arrived in India to attend the IPL 2023 final on BCCI’s invitation along with an ACC meeting for the Asia Cup 2023, the two boards could also finalise details about the proposed series.

The Men in Blue have a jam-packed schedule after the completion of IPL, with the World Test Championship final to be played at the Oval from June 7-11, while the Indian team will travel to the Caribbean to play two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is against the West Indies from July 12 to August 13.

With key players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer having already missed a major chunk of the ongoing calendar year, and the upcoming series against Ireland, Asia Cup 2023 in September leading up to the World Cup itself, the workload of Indian players will only be increasing.

Before the World Cup, Rohit Sharma’s men will also set to play a three-match ODI series against Australia a second such series this year to fine-tune their World Cup preparations.

Therefore, managing the workload of senior players to keep them from picking up injuries would be BCCI’s first priority with players such as Ravindra Jadeja, and Bumrah among those who missed last year’s T20 World Cup due to their injuries.