BCCI likely to rest all seniors for Afghanistan series

Contrary to reports that the BCCI plans to cancel the proposed series against Afghanistan, there is a possibility that a second team will play the white ball series. All the veterans including Rohit Sharma along with veteran player Virat Kohli could be rested ahead of the West Indies tour.

All the senior cricketers played the Indian Premier League for almost two months and will be in England to play the World Test Championship but after that most of the seniors like Kohli and Rohit will need to rest before they start playing in the West Indies, including two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is.

With the only window for the Afghanistan series being between June 20-30, the BCCI could have shortened the series or could make it a T20I or ODI series and play a second team led by Hardik Pandya.

The ACC board members will meet after the IPL final to finalize the future of the Asian Cup 2023, which means that the workload will only increase for the Indian players, with the World Cup in mind.

If finalized, the 2023 Asia Cup is expected to be played in September, meaning Indian players will struggle to find time to rest and recover.

Mirwais Ashraf, Chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), is currently in India. He has come for the final match of the Indian Premier League, having been invited by the BCCI. There is also a meeting of the ACC after the summit clash on May 28 and the two boards can discuss the bilateral series. While the final decision on the same has yet to be made, the start of the proposed series still seems doubtful.

According to Cricbuzz, BCCI is finding it difficult to schedule the Afghanistan series, proposed to have three ODIs, given the time constraint and also because the broadcast deal with Disney Star has ended and a new bid has yet to be issued.

However, a BCCI senior secretary, Jay Shah, during an earlier interaction with media in Mumbai, said that “BCCI’s media rights tender will be scheduled this year (June-July) and will depend on the tour of Afghanistan, but most likely the process will start from the Australia series.

The Board will speak to all stakeholders involved and make an interim decision.”

(PTI inputs)

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