Three months after relinquishing the T20I captaincy, Virat Kohli is now believed by many to have been unceremoniously ‘sacked’ from the ODI captaincy as well.
The manner in which the information was revealed, through a cursory tweet, with the BCCI simply putting out a statement, while announcing upcoming squads, saying, ‘The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr. Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.’ was also telling for many keen observers of the game.
This left die-hard fans irked and with the feeling that Kohli, who was all ready to lead the Test and ODI teams, when he officially stepped down from the T20 captaincy, had been disrespected.
The news was received with mixed reactions on Twitter, however. While some fans welcomed the decision, others were not on board with Kohli’s termination as ODI captain.
Many speculate that Kohli allegedly chose not to relinquish his post – leading, apparently, to his subsequent removal from India’s ODI captaincy.
Kohli now remains the captain of only the Test team, as India moves to a split-captaincy format. Kohli had wanted to hold on to the ODI captaincy at least till the 2023 World Cup at home, according to reports.
Virat Kohli has exceptional numbers in the ODIs as captain where he has a win percentage of 70.43 — the most by an Indian who has led the national side in more than 10 matches.
While critics point out the lack of a World Cup win, Kohli has led India in three major ICC white-ball trophies including the recently concluded T20 World Cup, where his side failed to make it to the final four.
Experts say the challenges of having two different captains in the limited overs formats is what may have led to the decision.