Rohit Sharma reveals chat with head coach Rahul Dravid upon return to T20Is

Listen to Story Indian captain Rohit Sharma opened up on his chat with head coach Rahul Dravid after he returned to the T20I setup after an absence of close to 14 months. India were led by the likes of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah in Rohit's absence in the ODI World Cup year in 2023 and the selectors tried out several young guns, who also managed to impress and put their hands up for spots in the T20 World Cup squad.

In the 1st T20I match against Afghanistan, Rohit turned up for the toss at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, much to the delight of his fans who were waiting for the 5 time IPL winning captain to return to the shortest format of the game. Speaking after winning the toss, Rohit mentioned that he has been involved in talks with Dravid as he was not in the loop about the decisions being made in the T20I setup for India for over a year.

"I wasn't in the team for the entire last year, but I've been talking to Rahul bhai about what we are doing and understanding what we need to do as a group. Winning is the most important thing," Rohit said. With eyes on the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is just 5 months away from now, Rohit admitted that the team does not have more than 3 T20i internationals to try out combinations and zero in on players.

Rohit said that India will be looking to make the most of the 3 T20Is against Afghanistan, adding that nothing can match the intensity of international games. India will largely depend on IPL 2024 to make their selection calls for the World Cup. "A lot to gain from these three games. We haven't had too much T20 cricket.

Leading up to the World Cup, we have IPL and stuff, but the international game is an international game," Rohit said. The Indian team selectors backed Virat Kohli and scheme of things after missing out on playing the shorter format for an entire year in 2023. Kohli missed out on playing the 1st T20I match due to personal reasons.

However, he will be available for the next 2 T20Is. Hardik Pandya, who is recovering from an ankle injury, was not available for selection for India's T20I squad against Afghanistan. The ICC's No. 1 ranked batter, Suryakumar Yadav, who led India in the last T20I series against Australia and South Africa, too suffered an ankle injury and missed out on playing the series..