'Rubbish, all media creation' - BCCI denies split captaincy claims, confirms Virat Kohli to continue as captain across formats

Arun Dhumal, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) treasurer, has rubbished the reports suggesting India adopting split captaincy, with Virat Kohli set to pass on the limited-overs captaincy to Rohit Sharma. Dhumal, on the same day of the emergence of such reports, further stated in no uncertain terms that Kohli will continue to captain India in all three formats of the game, and also confirmed that BCCI did not have any meeting regarding the team’s captaincy.

Certain recent reports were suggestive of India adopting split captaincy to not only lessen the burden from Kohli – who has been leading the nation in all three formats since 2018, and in Tests since 2014 – but also because the board is not satisfied with his team selection choices and the loss against New Zealand in the World Test Championship final in June 2021. However, Dhumal termed all the speculations to be false and “media-created”.

“This is all rubbish. Nothing as such is going to happen. This is all media creation,” Arun Dhumal told NDTV. “BCCI has not met or discussed anything on this issue. “Virat will remain as the captain (of all formats),” he said.

India’s search for ICC trophy

Under Kohli, Team India retained the top spot in ICC Test rankings for five straight years, while he is the format’s fourth most successful captain (behind Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh) having won 38 of the 65 Tests he has captained. In the limited-overs format, India has won 27 of their 45 T20Is and 65 of their 95 ODIs under Kohli.

Although, Kohli is yet to stake claim on any major ICC tournament, with India last ICC tournament triumph dating back to 2013 Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni. Following that, the team has lost 2014 T20 World Cup final to Sri Lanka, 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final to West Indies, 2017 Champions Trophy final to Pakistan, 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cup semi-finals to Australia and New Zealand, respectively, while the WTC final more recently in 2021.

India embark on their next ICC tournament in the form of the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman from October 24.