Before the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 kick-started, Virat Kohli announced the extravaganza as his last task as a T20I skipper. Also, the recently coiled-up season of the Indian Premier League, IPL 2021 was his last as the skipper of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). However, he has assured the teams to stick with loyalty playing as the dedicated player.
As of now, the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) does not look sure to continue with Kohli as a skipper in the One-Day Internationals. The decision in this regard will be announced before the South Africa series.
Notably, Rohit Sharma has stepped in the boots of Kohli as the T20I skipper whilst RCB's new captain will be announced in a short course. Sharma is likely to lead the men in blue in the 50-over format as well but the announcement is yet to be officialized.
Undeniably, the 34-year old has a great leadership record than Kohli in limited-over cricket. In IPL, taking over their specific franchises' captainship in the same year, Sharma has picked five trophies for Mumbai Indians (MI) whereas, Kohli has bid farewell to the times without a single trophy. Moreover, he is yet to win a trophy in any ICC event. With an end marked to the ICC T20 WC 21 alongside Kohli's T20I captaincy, there is no chance left in the format, however, if he continues as an ODI leader, the upcoming ODI World Cup may provide him with a star opportunity.
A spokesperson from BCCI added,
“As of now, it looks difficult that Virat would be able to keep his ODI captaincy but since ODI isn’t important this year with very few matches here and there, one can think of delaying the decision,” a senior BCCI official told The Indian Express.
“But the counter-argument is that why do you want to have separate ideas for two formats and if the majority of people in charge of making decisions feel that Rohit is the man going forward and will get time to prepare a team for the 2023 event,”
Notably, there is nothing to talk about his Kohli's Test captaincy yet.
India are scheduled to play three ODIs on the South Africa tour.
