Reports: Virat Kohli’s ODI captaincy to be discussed before South Africa tour

Prior to India’s tour of South Africa, the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel has plenty of aspects to ponder on – one of which is Virat Kohli’s fate as the skipper of the national ODI team. The 33-year-old has already relinquished T20I captaincy after India’s disastrous campaign in the T20 World Cup 2021 in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Sharma, the chairman of selectors, Sunil Joshi and Abey Kuruvilla are currently present in Mumbai to watch the second Test between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium. The trio is most likely to meet Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, and Jay Shah, the board’s honorary secretary, to discuss on a few matters.

India are scheduled to play three ODIs on the South Africa tour and if reports are to be believed, Rohit Sharma is being thought of as a prospect for leading in ODIs as well.

Virat Kohli to lose captaincy?

“As of now, it looks difficult that Virat would be able to keep his ODI captaincy but since ODI isn’t important this year with very few matches here and there, one can think of delaying the decision,” a senior BCCI official told The Indian Express.

“But the counter argument is that why do you want to have separate ideas for two formats and if majority of people in charge of making decision feel that Rohit is the man going forward and will get time to prepare a team for 2023 event,” he stated.

Questions have also been raised on Ajinkya Rahane’s form in Test cricket, especially over the last 12 months. The Indian Test vice-captain missed the Mumbai Test due to injury and as per reports, he isn’t an automatic choice anymore. Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari and Suryakumar Yadav are the ones, who can replace Rahane in the playing eleven for the South Africa tour.

“Obviously, he is going to South Africa but had he not got injured, there was a high chance of him getting dropped from the eleven. So, if he is not a sure-shot starter, how can he remain the deputy. If Rahane is removed from vice-captaincy, Rohit is the obvious choice. He was in fact vice-captain in Australia Test series in last two games,” the official added.