'Difficult to judge Rohit and Virat's form and fitness': Dilip Vengsarkar

Former national chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar lauded the decision of the current Indian team selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar to appoint Test skipper Shubman Gill as the ODI team captain as wellHowever the former India captain questioned the inclusion of veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who are playing just one format of the game in the 15member ODI team for the upcoming Australia tourDilip Vengsarkar PicSatej ShindeSoon after India outclassed West Indies by an innings and 140 runs in the first Test at Ahmedabad on Saturday afternoon Gill was appointed Indiarsquos new ODI captain replacing Rohit Gill will lead the ODI team against Australia in a threematch series starting at Perth on October 19 lsquoGill is the best choicersquoldquoGill is a very good allformat player Actually when you pick a captain you first pick the team and then you pick the best available guy to lead the side And I think Gill is the best person to lead the side in ODIs and Test matches because he is also good in T20srdquo Vengsarkar told Sunday midday over the phone from Dubai on SaturdayRohit 38 who has already announced his retirement from Tests and T20Is last represented the country in an ODI in March 2025 when India beat New Zealand in the final to win the Champions Trophy under his captaincy in Dubai That match was also the last outing for Kohli 36 who is also only playing the ODI formatPlaying one format an issueVengsarkar a 116Test veteran reckoned that itrsquos tough to judge a playerrsquos form and fitness if he is playing in only one format ldquoRohit and Virat have been great players over the years but if you are playing just one format of the game I believe the selectors need to take a call on this I feel you cannot know or judge the form and fitness of such players because theyrsquove had a long layoff after the last game they have played Itrsquos very difficult to assess their form and fitnessrdquo said VengsarkarldquoRohit and Virat have possibly been picked because of their great records They have been great players and have done yeomen service to Indian cricket having won many matches in all formats of the game But since they have not been playing Test match cricket as well as T20s and are playing only one format oneday matches which is not very often played during the season itrsquos very difficult to gauge their form and fitness But since they have been picked the selectors may have checked that though I donrsquot know howrdquo added the former India skipperFinally Vengsarkar hinted that players who are available for all formats should be given more opportunities ldquoItrsquos really up to the selectors whether they want to stick with Rohit and Virat or look ahead and give opportunities to those players who are available for all formats of the game It depends on how they look at Indian cricket going aheadrdquo concluded VengsarkarIndiarsquos ODI squadS Gill c R Sharma V Kohli S Iyer vc Axar Patel KL Rahul wk NK Reddy W Sundar K Yadav H Rana M Siraj A Singh P Krishna D Jurel wk and Y JaiswalIndiarsquos T20I squadS Yadav c A Sharma S Gill vc T Varma NK Reddy S Dube A Patel J Sharma wk V Chakravarthy J Bumrah A Singh K Yadav H Rana S Samson wk R Singh and W Sundar