New Delhi. After the loss to New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final, five BCCI office-bearers met in Mumbai to discuss Virat Kohli’s captaincy and different captains in different formats. When this news was published in Dainik Jagran, Virat Kohli read the writing being written on the wall. He announced before the T20 World Cup that he would step down as the captain of the shortest format after this tournament. He felt that by doing this he would save the captaincy of ODIs, but the BCCI office-bearers were in a different mood.
After losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, it was decided that Virat’s ODI captaincy would also go away. The team did not reach the semi-finals even in its hosting. The board officials wanted Virat himself to leave the captaincy, but he did not do so. The board sent a message to Virat Kohli after such news came out, but this time he put the ball in the board’s court. The board also asked the selectors to make Rohit Sharma the new captain of the ODIs after waiting for 48 hours.
There was no mention in the BCCI statement about Kohli’s dismissal. It said that the selection committee has decided to make Rohit Sharma the captain of the ODI and T20 teams while going ahead. Virat wanted to lead the Indian team in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home. However, now he will be seen playing under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. There is to be a three-match ODI series on the tour of South Africa and Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the team in this series, which is yet to be announced.
captaincy story
Kohli’s captaincy has been a wonderful story in itself. The ‘cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni groomed Kohli under his leadership and then when he felt the time had come, he handed over the responsibility of the white ball to him. Over the next two years, Kohli became the team’s mighty captain, doing things on his own terms. Then there was the Committee of Administrators set up by the Supreme Court, who met their every demand (some right and some wrong).
This was followed by a return to the traditional administrators in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which had very powerful secretaries and presidents, who were themselves aware of successful captaincy. In the end, there was no place for two different captains for both the white ball formats. In this way it can be said that Virat Kohli has not given up the captaincy, but has been released from him. However, so far no statement has come from Virat’s side.
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