In a bid to prioritize the upcoming home season, the BCCI has decided to rest the senior members of the Indian cricket team. Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah have been asked by the board to take a break and skip the upcoming India vs Sri Lanka white-ball series, which starts on July 27.
Before winning the T20 World Cup on June 29, the trio had played a hectic two-month-long IPL 2024 season. While Kohli was on break during the India vs England series, Rohit played all 5 Test matches, and Bumrah too played 4 games. Before that, Rohit and Kohli played a 3-match T20I series against Afghanistan while Bumrah rested.
Rest over practice
“Senior players can take some rest and get ready for the full cricket season ahead. Rohit, Virat and Bumrah have been offered rest and will join the team for the Test matches against Bangladesh in September,” a source in the BCCI told The Indian Express.
A young Indian team led by Shubman Gill is currently playing a 5-match T20I series in Zimbabwe. But the full-strength team was expected to assemble for the India vs Sri Lanka series, where they’ll play 3 T20Is and ODIs in Sri Lanka. Given that India isn’t expected to play much 50-over cricket before the Champions Trophy 2025, it was expected that Rohit, Kohli, and Bumrah would at least play the ODIs.
But the management has decided to keep them ready for the home season instead. This means that after a 2-month rest, they’ll feature for Team India in the first Test of the season against Bangladesh in September.
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Team India’s 2024 home season
| Match | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| India vs Bangladesh, 1st Test | September 19-23 | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai |
| India vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test | September 27-October 1 | Green Park, Kanpur |
| India vs Bangladesh, 1st ODI | October 6 | HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala |
| India vs Bangladesh, 2nd ODI | October 9 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi |
| India vs Bangladesh, 3rd ODI | October 12 | Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad |
| India vs New Zealand, 1st Test | October 16-20 | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore |
| India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test | October 24-28 | Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune |
| India vs New Zealand, 3rd Test | November 1-5 | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
