Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli in trouble as BCCI imposes ban on skipping bilateral series

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCC) has taken a massive step after India's recent performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Senior players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, whose futures were under the scanner, are likely to be affected the most by this decision.

India suffered a 1-3 defeat to the hosts Australia in the five-match Test series. The Men in Blue won the first Test in Perth but their performance kept going downwards from the next match.

Australia came back strongly in Adelaide to win the second Test. India somehow managed to draw the third Test but Australia were too good to win the fourth one in the last session of the match. The hosts continued their dominance and defeated India in the fifth Test in Sydney to clinch the series.

Also read: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli face heat as BCCI enforces strict domestic cricket participation rule

BCCI takes a massive step after India's BGT disaster

The BCCI officials along with India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma attended a review meeting of the team's performance in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Mumbai. The chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar was also present there.

In the meeting, it was decided that the players won't be allowed to pick and choose any bilateral series from now onwards. Earlier, the team's senior players were allowed to skip bilateral assignments based on their priorities.

However, this won't be the case from now onwards and the selectors will decide about the player's availability for a series. The players have to provide proper medical reasons if they want to keep themselves out of selection for any bilateral assignment.

"There was a detailed discussion on the Border Gavaskar Trophy performance, what all went wrong, and the course correction required. But do not expect a hurried decision from the new dispensation of BCCI," a source was quoted as saying by PTI.

Apart from this, the board decided against taking any big decision that could severely impact the team's composition. The report also claimed that Gambhir, Agarkar, and Rohit also discussed about the things that went wrong in Australia.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli face an impact

The decision is likely to impact Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli the most. Both the senior players have missed quite a few bilateral series in the past few years but have constantly featured in important Test series and big ICC tournaments.

There were reports that claimed that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli could miss the upcoming ODI series against England. However, both the players are likely to feature in the series now given it is also the preparation for the Champions Trophy.

Rohit and Kohli have already retired from T20Is but are still active players in Tests and ODIs. Both of them haven't been in great form in the red-ball format recently but will be a key part of India's Champions Trophy campaign.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in BGT 2024-25

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are at the forefront of criticism after their disappointing performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rohit scored just 31 runs in three Tests at a miserable average of 6.20. He even dropped himself from the last Test in Sydney owing to his poor batting form.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli too didn't have a great series and scored 190 runs in five Tests at an average of 23.75. He scored a hundred in the first Test at Perth but his performance went down constantly in the next four matches.