When Rohit Sharma, like Virat Kohli, didn’t play a single Twenty20 International for more than a year after India’s defeat at the hands of England in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Adelaide in November 2022, the consensus was that India had moved on from the two virtuosos when it came to the shortest format.

Returning to the T20I fold

Whether it had anything to do with the serious ankle injury Hardik Pandya sustained during the home 50-over World Cup game against Bangladesh in October is open to conjecture, but Rohit returned to the T20 set-up, alongside Kohli, for the series against Afghanistan in January, shortly after which BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced that the Mumbaikar would helm India’s challenge at the T20 World Cup in the US and the Caribbean in June.