Rohit Sharma denies meeting with Rahul Dravid and selectors for T20 World Cup selection

Rohit Sharma (Pic: AFP)

With speculation spiralling on the composition of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup in June, reports emerged that India skipper Rohit Sharma met head coach Rahul Dravid and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarakar to thrash out possible names but Rohit termed it as "fake news".

"I haven't met anyone. Ajit is somewhere in Dubai playing golf. Rahul bhai was in Mumbai to watch his kid play. He got him to play on a red soil wicket at CCI (Brabourne Stadium). We haven't met," he clarified.

"In this day and age, unless me, Rahul or Ajit or someone from BCCI is talking in front of the camera, everything is fake."

When Gilchrist asked about "two" budding keeper-batters named "Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik", who are showing "potential" in the IPL, the skipper also came up with a cheeky reply.

"Quite impressed, watching DK bat a couple of nights back, and Dhoni as well, came to play four balls, made a huge impact, that was the difference. It will be hard to convince MS although he is coming to the US, to do something else. He is into golf now. DK will be easier to convince I guess," he laughed when asked whether they are being pursued for World Cup selection.

Laying emphasis on IPL 2024's 'Impact Player' rule, Rohit said he feels it is hurting the country's all-rounders by not allowing cricketers like Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube to showcase their bowling prowess.

The 'Impact Player' Rule, introduced in the 2023 season, allows all IPL teams to substitute a player, batter or bowler, during their respective innings as per the demands of the match. But it has raised eyebrows given that someone like Dube has only been used as a power-hitter by his franchise Chennai Super Kings. He hasn't bowled his medium pacers despite being in contention for the seam bowling all-rounder's place in the India set-up along with Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya.

"I genuinely feel that it is going to hold back (development of India all-rounders)," Rohit didn't mince words while speaking to Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist's YouTube show 'Club Prairie Fire'.

Rohit explained at length why, for the sake of entertainment, development of players shouldn't be forgotten.

Also Read: India's T20 World Cup squad: Dube-Rinku-Gill vs Jaiswal shootout?

India, save Pandya, doesn't have a genuine seam bowling all-rounder in contention for the T20 World Cup, although Dube's name is being discussed for the finisher's role.

"Eventually, cricket is played by 11 players not 12 players. I am not a big fan of 'Impact Player', you are taking out so much from the game just because of little bit of entertainment, for people around," he pointed out.

"...I can give you so many examples, guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl. For us (Indian team), it is not a good thing you know. I don't know what you can do about it but I am not a fan of it, frankly speaking," he said.

"It is entertaining because there are 12 players, whoever the impact player is, you can change a player later seeing how the game goes, depending on how the pitch is behaving. If you bat well, don't lose wickets, you can add another bowler, you have 6-7 bowlers and you don't need an extra batter if teams are batting well upfront. You hardly see a no.7 or 8 coming in to bat," he said.

(With agency inputs)