Virat Kohli set to lose ODI captaincy as India on verge of early exit in T20 World Cup: Reports
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Virat Kohli had already announced that the T20 World Cup will be his last assignment as Team India's captain in the shortest format. As India are on the brink of early elimination, reports suggest that he might be asked to give up ODI captaincy.
Virat Kohli-led Team India are on the brink of early elimination in the T20 World Cup 2021 edition, being held in the UAE. After the Men in Blue lost their Super 12 opening fixture versus Pakistan, they were also thrashed by Kane Williamson-led New Zealand by eight wickets as the one-time winners have a tough task to enter the semi-finals in the showpiece event.
Captain Kohli isn't having the best of times at present. While a lot was said when he announced his decision to resign as the T20I captain before the ongoing World Cup, many hoped that he would sign off on a high and finally win his first-ever ICC title as Team India's captain. Nonetheless, India's campaign so far has been disastrous, to say the least.
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Now, reports suggest that Kohli might lose ODI captaincy. As per a report in PTI, the BCCI might discuss Kohli's ODI captaincy future. In addition, it will make more sense to have one player as the white-ball captain rather than splitting captaincy in shorter formats.
The report further states that since India have only three 50-over games in the current home season, with all the encounters against West Indies in February. Hence, the Indian cricket board is looking to stitch a two-year master-plan heading into the 2023 World Cup.
For the unversed, India have an ODI series in South Africa. It will be interesting to see whether Kohli would voluntarily step down from the 50-over captaincy or if he will wait for the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI to ask him to vacate the top post. In all likelihood, his leadership days in shorter formats are numbered given how things are shaping up for India in the T20 WC.
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India are set to go through a transition process post the T20 WC. As of now, Rohit Sharma looks like the strongest contender to take up white-ball captaincy whereas Rahul Dravid is more or less confirmed to replace Ravi Shastri as India's head coach.
