Right from the day India were eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup, which was Virat Kohli’s last assignment as the leader of the T20I side, the debate of whether he should be the captain of even the ODI format has picked up the pace.
There are ideas supporting full-time captaincy to Rohit Shara of both the white-ball formats while leaving only the Test cricket for Virat Kohli to oversee but the other school of thought contest the idea citing lack of time between now and the next ODI World Cup scheduled to take place in 2023.
There is no easy answer to those questions and it seems even the national selectors are finding it tough to reach a conclusion on this contentious issue that has a far-reaching impact on those players and the Indian team.
There were reports that Kohli will be stripped of his leadership duties from ODIs and Rohit will be elevated for the role as early as in the series against South Africa starting next month. The selectors, however, are not in hurry and they are looking to bide their time and have a comprehensive discussion with Kohli over his batting and overall feelings over leading the side.
“The ODI captaincy is a sensitive issue. There is a school of thought that Rohit Sharma should be given charge of all white-ball cricket after being appointed the T20I captain. But for that, the selectors need to sit with Virat Kohli and know where he stands with his batting. The situation will have to be discussed with Rohit too because he is also seeking clarity on his role,” TOI quoted a BCCI source as saying.
If Kohli is relieved of his leadership role, India will be looking towards an uncharted territory of full-fledged split captaincy which has been a popular and successful theme with the Indian side. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli tried to do so for a couple of years before Dhoni left the job for Kohli to have full control over with his ideas and imagination and hence it would be fascinating to see how the trio of Rahul Dravid, Kohli and Rohit Sharma bring about the next phase of transition in Indian cricket.