Virat Kohli, India’s Test red-ball captain will not play the One-day International series in South Africa while white-ball captain Rohit Sharma will be unavailable for the Test series.
Virat Kohli is the Test captain and Rohit Sharma is India’s newly-appointed white-ball skipper. Being unavailable for the respective formats has nothing to do with the ongoing controversy related to the Team India white-ball captaincy changing hands.
Virat Kohli To Miss ODI Series For Celebrating First Birthday Of His Daughter While Rohit Sharma Will Miss Test Series For Hamstring Injury
Virat Kohli had informed the BCCI in advance that he would take a break in early January. Since the ODI series coincides with the first birthday of his daughter, Virat Kohli had communicated that he could not participate in the One-day series. Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, has been ruled out because of a hamstring injury. Luckily, the injury is not a tear and therefore the opener is expected to be available in three weeks’ time to lead the white-ball team.
India’s Test vice-captain has been ruled out of the entire 3-Test series against South Africa as his old left-hamstring injury resurfaced during the team’s net session in Mumbai. India A captain Priyank Panchal will be Rohit Sharma’s replacement opener in the Test series, but the vice-captain of Tests hasn’t been named yet.
On Sunday, Rohit Sharma went through a nets session and suffered a minor hand injury when a rising delivery in the nets struck him on the gloves. The batsman was in pain but recovered quickly. It is not this hand injury that has put him out of the Tests against South Africa. The developments, while merely coincidental, are bound to lead to rumours about personal relationships between two of the biggest cricketers on the global stage.
Close to three months after Virat Kohli stepped down from the T20I captaincy, the BCCI announced through a very short press statement that Rohit Sharma would be replacing him as the white-ball skipper (ODIs and T20Is). The next day, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly sent out a statement saying he had “personally spoken with Virat Kohli” and so had the selectors.
Sourav Ganguly Disclosed BCCI Had Asked Virat Kohli Not To Resign As T20I Skipper
Sourav Ganguly disclosed that the board had asked the 33-year-old not to resign from the T20 captaincy.
Virat Kohli hasn’t responded to either BCCI’s decision or Sourav Ganguly’s statement yet. Virat Kohli wanted to quit white-ball captaincy on September 13. On September 16, by way of a social media statement, Virat Kohli resigned as India’s T20 captain but went on to add that he would continue remaining the Test and ODI captain of the team.
BCCI sources had at that time confirmed that there was no chance of the white-ball captaincy being split. So it was only a matter of time before the ODI captaincy would be handed over to the new Test vice-captain and also new T20I skipper Rohit Sharma. The duo has been in focus over the last four years in the Team India dressing room who time and again allegedly found it difficult to get along with each other.
However, under Ravi Shastri as head coach, the two cricketers went about their professional responsibilities and their personal relations too remained amicable. Now, managing these two-star cricketers will be new head coach Rahul Dravid’s biggest task.
“Over the years, the Indian dressing room has been fraught with egos. Be it Kapil Dev and Gavaskar, Azharuddin and Sachin, Sourav and Dravid, Dhoni and Sehwag or Gambhir. But that doesn’t mean that it has boiled over to what they go and do out there on the field. They’re professionals and are required to behave in a certain fashion at all times,” say those tracking these two individuals closely.
The two individuals are now likely to play together only once the team returns home from South Africa.
Meanwhile, all speculation surrounding Virat Kohli wanting to quit the white-ball formats is just that, speculation. Virat Kohli will not be taking part in India’s first ODI assignment of 2022.
The master batsman has reportedly stated that he wants to spend time with his family and celebrate his daughter’s birthday.
The 33-year-old was also removed as the captain of the Indian ODI side ahead of the series against South Africa. Rohit Sharma is now the captain of the Indian side in limited-overs cricket. Virat Kohli is the 2nd highest run-scorer for India in ODI cricket and has scored 12169 runs in 254 matches.