The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has revealed that they had requested Virat Kohli to continue as T20I skipper but once he decided to step down, the selectors wanted to have a uniform captain in the white-ball formats.
The All India Senior Selection Committee on Wednesday appointed Rohit Sharma as India’s new ODI captain in place of Virat Kohli. Incidentally, Kohli has expressed to carry on with the leadership duties until the 2023 World Cup but the selectors felt the need of having one captain in the limited-overs format.
“It’s a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats,” Ganguly told ANI.
Incidentally, Virat Kohli is one of the most successful skippers in the history of ODI cricket with a win percentage of over 70%. The chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma, and Sourav Ganguly have spoken to Kohli about the development and all are on the same page.
“So it was decided that Virat will continue as Test captain and Rohit will take over as the white-ball captain. I as President personally spoke to Virat Kohli and the chairman of selectors has also spoken to him,” Ganguly added.
“We have full faith in Rohit Sharma’s leadership abilities” – Sourav Ganguly
Rohit has long been considered a potential captain of the Indian side, not least because of his success at the IPL, where he has led Mumbai Indians to a record five titles. He also enjoys a good record as India’s stop-gap ODI captain, winning eight of the 10 matches he has led so far.
Sourav Ganguly is confident that Rohit will succeed and that Indian cricket is in good hands.
“We have full faith in Rohit Sharma’s leadership abilities, and Virat will continue as the Test captain. We as BCCI are confident that Indian cricket is in good hands. We thank Virat Kohli for his contributions as captain in the white-ball format,” the BCCI president added.
