Ex-BCCI Selector Says ‘Sorry’ To Rohit Sharma For World Cup Snub

Rohit Sharma [Source: AFP]

Rohit Sharma holds a distinguished career for Team India, especially in white-ball formats. Making his international debut at the age of 20 back in 2007, the then youngster started off his career with a 2007 T20 World Cup triumph in South Africa.

Not long ago, the legendary opener led the Indian team to two successive ICC event wins by lifting the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, doing both at the fag end of his career. However, an ODI World Cup continues to elude Sharma, even though he boasts one of the most prolific batting records in ODI World Cup history.

The cricketer did come close in finding a place in the Team India squad that lifted the 2011 World Cup on home soil. However, he was snubbed by the then selection committee in favour of ‘all-rounders’ in the team, as confirmed by former BCCI selector and ex-World Cup winner himself, Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

K Srikkanth said he apologized to Rohit Sharma

While speaking on a podcast for The Week, former Indian cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth admitted that he apologized to Rohit Sharma back in the year 2020 for excluding him from India’s 2011 World Cup squad. A 1983 World Cup winner himself, Srikkanth added that the selection committee led by him wanted to pick as many all-rounders in the team in a bid to recreate the 1983 magic.

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He said “Poor fellow, he missed it. I feel bad for him even today. I told Rohit one day, in 2020… I’m sorry, boss. It’s not on purpose, but it’s just that we wanted to take those half all-rounders. The team was packed with half all-rounders. Because if you see the 1983 World Cup – Roger Binny was an all-rounder, the main all-rounder was Kapil Dev… Except Srikanth, Kirmani and Sunil Gavaskar, everybody bowled in that World Cup.”

K Srikkanth also added that Rohit Sharma was good enough to play the 2011 World Cup, and to this day, he feels bad for the Mumbaikar for missing the tournament.

He stated “Not that he was not good enough. He was actually good enough to play the 2011 World Cup. But poor boy, he missed it. Today also I feel bad for him. Not that he was not good enough. He was actually good enough to play the 2011 World Cup. But poor boy, he missed it. Today also I feel bad for him.”

Srikkanth defends 2011 World Cup selection calls

The former India cricketer also defended his selection committee’s decision of picking an all-rounder heavy side, considering it was all-rounder Yuvraj Singh who won the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award in India’s 2011 World Cup win.

He added “So our thought process was similar to that. And you see, end of the day, who was the man of the tournament? Yuvraj Singh – bowling and batting… In this half all-rounder concept, Rohit Sharma, poor fellow, he could not find a place.”

When Rohit Sharma nearly won a World Cup as captain

Since missing the 2011 World Cup, Rohit Sharma has been a crucial member in Team India line-ups in each of the three subsequent tournaments up until the year 2023. In the 2015 edition in Australia, the right-hander struck a match-winning century against Bangladesh in the quarterfinal in Melbourne.

In 2019, Rohit Sharma aggregated 648 runs with a record haul of five centuries, including four in match-winning causes. He also led the Indian team to an unbeaten run up until the shock defeat to Australia in the final of the 2023 event on home soil.

Even though he has taken retirements from Tests and T20Is, the 39-year-old seems to be in good shape to play the 2027 World Cup in South Africa next year.

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