'Might happen in ODIs' - Ravi Shastri hints at Virat Kohli leaving 50-over format's captaincy after T20Is
Ravi Shastri with Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli had announced, in mid-September, that the T20 World Cup 2021 edition will be his last assignment as India's captain in the shortest format. He cited workload issues for stepping aside as the T20I skipper. Now, Ravi Shastri -- whose tenure as the national side's head coach just ended following the T20 WC campaign -- has hinted that Kohli might also step aside as the ODI captain.
Under Shastri-Kohli, Team India were a force to reckon with across formats as they became a daunting line-up while being on the road whereas also managed to dominate oppositions at home. Nonetheless, with Kohli not being at his usual best with the bat and being deprived of thethree-figure mark in international cricket since late 2019, the 33-year-old stepped aside as the T20I captain. Now, he can also follow the same route in ODIs.
In an interview with India Today,Shastri said, "In red-ball cricket, India has been the No1 team in the world for the last 5 years under Virat Kohli. So unless he wants to give up or if he is mentally fatigued and says he wants to focus on his batting - which can happen in the near future, don't think it will happen immediately - it can happen.”
He added, "The same might happen with the ODI. He might say he wants to focus just on Test captaincy. It is his mind and body that will make that decision."
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It will be interesting to see if Kohli gives up ODI captaincy as well but holds onto the post in Tests. Recently, reports suggested that the BCCI is willing to free Kohli from more responsibilities by asking him to step aside as theODI captain.
As per a report inNDTV, the BCCI top brass is planning to have a conversation with the right-hander regarding his future as the ODI captain. "The board wants to relieve Kohli of the captaincy burden in limited-overs cricket so that he can focus on his batting and return to his dominant form,"NDTVquoted sources as saying.
Thus, Rohit Sharma might soon become India's limited-overs captain whereas Kohli is likely to continue as the Test skipper.