Improve way to deal with players at back-end of their careers: Ashwin's message to BCCI amid Virat, Rohit speculations

New Delhi [India], October 9 (ANI): Former decorated spinner Ravichandran Ashwin criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) handling of batting bigwigs Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and emphasised the importance of knowledge transfer (KT) in the management and the nation's cricket.
Speculations and debates have sparked over social media since last week, after chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the management's decision to hand over the ODI captaincy from Rohit to Shubman Gill. The recent shift in the hierarchy has raised questions about whether Virat and Rohit remain a part of India's plans for the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
Ashwin didn't dwell on the recent reports but questioned why the management didn't communicate their roadmap for the showpiece event in 2027 after Rohit and Virat bid adieu to T20Is following last year's World Cup triumph. He emphasised the importance of improving communication, particularly with players nearing the end of their careers.
"On one side is selection, on the other side is Kohli and Rohit. These are two sides of the same coin. The selection and selectors have clearly shown that the team had decided to move forward. However, in this process, there are two players who are at the back end of their careers. Like it or not, they are at the back-end of their careers. However, one thing I would like to say is that the way to deal with players at the back-end of their careers should be improved. It is very easy to say from a fan's perspective, from an organisation's perspective, that they have grown old and should retire," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"I really hope the conversation has already taken place with Kohli and Rohit. But if it happened now, why didn't it happen during their retirement from T20Is in the World Cup last year? Had they been told then, they would have said, 'Okay, boss, do we want to play because this is what the team wants to take a direction and this is what the choices are?' But this leaves a lot of uninformed space, which leads to speculations. And there shouldn't be speculations. It should have been a straight conversation. If the communication is not clear and transparent, and if it is not done with a forward-looking vision, it leaves players in a very vulnerable position," he added.
According to Ashwin, despite the BCCI's global stature, Indian cricket lacks effective communication, struggles with transition plans, and has limited knowledge transfer. All these aspect leaves no room for preparing a roadmap for leadership changes and other elements.
"Knowledge transfer, or KT, doesn't mean Kohli and Rohit will be teaching Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma new shots; rather, it will show them how to handle pressure situations and deal with injuries. The way Kohli and Rohit batted in the 2023 ODI World Cup, they have nothing to prove, but does KT have any space? There is actually no space for KT in Indian cricket because there is no transition phase. Rahul Dravid was a coach at one time, then Gautam Gambhir took over. We did not have any template that, after Dravid, Gambhir would be the coach, so taking a KT from Dravid was not possible. And after Gambhir, for whom will the KT go? If there is no roadmap from the management side, this cannot happen from the players' side," he added. (ANI)