BCCI on Wednesday announced Rohit Sharma as the new full-time limited-overs captain for the Indian team. Virat Kohli who is believed to be sacked from the leadership will continue as a player in both formats.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.#TeamIndia | @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/hcg92sPtCa
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 8, 2021
The speculations were on the topmost altitude after India’s humiliating exit from ICC WORLD T20 regarding the captaincy of ODIs as Kohli announced his decision just before the start of the world cup to step down as skipper of T20I once the tournament finishes. After the disappointing performance from the men in blue, Kohli was in all sorts of trouble to be questioned over a few decisions and the team’s failures to win any major trophy under his leadership. Kohli, who is himself going through a rough patch with the bat across formats managed to play 2 knockout games in three ICC tournaments as Indian captain, the closest he came in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy where the team lost to Pakistan in the final.
As per the reports, BCCI gave a 48-hour window to Kohli for announcing his resignation but itself made the call after he did not resign.
Kohli, who in between stepped down from his RCB captaincy also, however, was seemed to be looking forward to leading the Indian team towards the 2023 ODI World Cup but the Board had other ideas and did not wait any longer to appoint Rohit Sharma as the new skipper for ODI team.
Kohli’s run as the Indian skipper for white-ball formats(ODI and T20I) has ended with a stunned and sudden call that leaves a story in itself.
The 33-year old became one of the great Indian captains in white-ball cricket after being handed over the leadership duties from MS Dhoni in 2017, he continued to rule the record books, achieving some unbelievable milestones which will undoubtedly regard him as one of the finest batters in modern-day limited-overs cricket, especially in ODIs where he was invincible over a long period and still manages to hold on to the remarkable average of nearly 60 in the One-dayers even after not scoring any International century since November 2019.
🔹 A vice-captaincy change
🔹 Hanuma Vihari includedIndia have named their Test squad for the series against South Africa.
Details 👉 https://t.co/dmjyTFP0RK pic.twitter.com/pDTsmBEXDl
— ICC (@ICC) December 8, 2021
He will continue to lead the test side which he calls his dearest format of the game hence will look to achieve the untouched feat of defeating South Africa on their home turf in the longest format to become the only Indian captain to do so. India has already won the test series in Australia under his captaincy and is leading the series by 2-1 against England in their backyard.
Rohit is also named as the vice-captain of the test side for the SA tour replacing Ajinkya Rahane who nonetheless made it to the team amongst the 18-men squad announced by the Selection Committee.
India will tour South Africa for 3 Tests and 3 ODIs starting from December 26 with the Indian ODI squad expected to be announced anytime soon.
