All good things come to an end and so has Virat Kohli’s time as the captain of the India's limited-overs team. It’s been a bitter pill to swallow for now-former India ODI and T20I captain Kohli as he has been sacked from the captaincy in white-ball cricket. As per a PTI report, the 33-year-old Kohli had earlier refused to step down from the ODI captaincy and was given an ultimatum of 48 hours to leave his role. Kohli had announced that he will be stepping down from captaincy from the shortest format after T20 World Cup 2021, but lightning has struck twice as he has now been relieved of his duties as the skipper of the ODI side.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) faced an anxious wait so that Kohli could step down from the captaincy. However, with a response coming from the former World Cup winner, the BCCI decided to ax Kohli and named Rohit Sharma as the new skipper of the side. The decision comes as a new blow for Kohli as it is the third time in as many months that he has to step down from his main role at the international and franchise level.
The BCCI announced the squad for the T20 World Cup and named Rohit as the captain of the squad while Kohli’s sacking didn’t come as a surprise. Rohit will be the man in charge for the T20 World Cup in 2022 in Australia while he will also be leading the side in the 2023 ODI World Cup on Indian soil. Virat, on the other hand, will most certainly be part of the furniture but will be playing under the stewardship of Rohit.
Former coach Ravi Shastri had previously stated that the 33-year-old should step down as the leader of the side in white-ball cricket to focus on his batting. It has been more than two years since the right-handed batter scored a hundred on the international stage. His last ton for the national side came in November 2019 against Bangladesh, perhaps an indication of why Kohli needed to step down from his role.
The 2023 ICC World Test Championship could be the perfect opportunity for Kohli to prove his mettle as captain. The veteran player was unsuccessful in winning an ICC trophy as skipper despite playing in the final of the Champions Trophy and the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC). The team also made it to the semifinals of the ODI World Cup in 2019 after an excruciating defeat to New Zealand.
