’Special treatment’ to Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma may hurt ’Indian cricket’: Ex-player warns BCCI

Amid the poor show by Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli against Bangladesh in Chennai last week, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is being accused of giving 'preferential treatment' to the two senior players, reported Hindustan Times.

Rohit, Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah were not picked for the Duleep Trophy tournament, compared to other players in the Tests.

Though Bumrah picked 4 wickets for 50 runs in the opening innings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium against Bangladesh, Rohit Sharma scored 6 runs in the first innings and 5 runs in the second innings.

On the other side, Virat Kohli couldn't impress with his batting. He also scored 17 runs in the first Test against Bangladesh.

In the first Test at Chennai, India defeated Bangladesh by a whopping 280 runs, all thanks to Ravichandran Ashwin's century (113) in the first innings, Bumrah's 4-wicket haul, and Jadeja's important 86 runs.

This was followed by centuries by Shubman Gill (119*) and Rishabh Pant (109) in the second innings. However, the icing on the cake was Ashwin's 6-wickets haul and Jadeja picking up three wickets.

What expert says?

According to former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, in conversation with ESPNcricinfo, the scenario would have been different if Kohli and Rohit had participated in the Duleep Trophy.

Despite believing the two experienced players will bounce back to form in the second Test against Bangladesh in Kanpur, Manjrekar cited an alarm for selectors against not giving 'special treatment'

to 'certain players', provided it may 'hurt Indian cricket and the player themselves'.

Manjrekar said, as HT quoted ESPNcricinfo, "“I'm not worried, but I'm sure somebody made a note of the fact that they would have been better off had they played some red-ball cricket. There was the option of picking them in the Duleep Trophy. So one has to be careful about treating certain players differently and do what's best for Indian cricket and for the player. Virat and Rohit not playing (Duleep Trophy) was not good for Indian cricket, nor was it good for the two players. Had they played the Duleep Trophy and had some time in the red-ball cricket, things would have been different."

"But they have the class and experience to make a comeback later in the series, and I don't see them, for that reason, not being in form. But something that one must make a quiet note of, and that has been a problem with Indian cricket for a long time now, is that certain players get picked out for special treatment because of their status, which eventually hurts that player more than anyone else,” he added.

Kohli's scorecard in 2024:

In 2024, Kohli scored just 81 runs in four innings. Also since 2022, Kohli has scored only 401 runs across seven Tests, including 186 against Australia last year. The star India batter could add only 654 runs in the 23 innings he played since 2021.