India and South Africa will play three Tests from December 26.
As India hasn’t yet won a Test series in South Africa, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria believes that the upcoming three-match Test series will be extremely important and maybe the last one for Virat Kohli to prove himself as captain after the way the BCCI sacked him as ODI captain.
Recently, Kohli was sacked as ODI captain by the BCCI despite wanting to lead India in ODI and Test cricket, as the board didn’t want to have two different captains in the limited-overs format, resulting in Rohit Sharma being given the ODI captaincy as well after T20I captaincy in November.
In a press conference, before Team India’s departure to South Africa on Thursday, Kohli made some shocking revelations over the captaincy changes, revealing he was never asked to stay as India’s T20I captain and even wasn’t informed before being removed as ODI captain earlier this month.
The right-hander further revealed that he just got to know about the sacking just one and a half hours before the formal announcement of Rohit replacing him as ODI captain.
On the other hand, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had stated that he and the BCCI chief selector had requested Kohli not to step down as T20I captain, which contrasted the Test skipper’s remarks, and that exposed the difference between the skipper and the board.
Well, after losing the white-ball captaincy, Kohli will be certainly more motivated than ever to prove in the upcoming Test series against South Africa, starting on December 26 in Centurion.
Kaneria said on his YouTube channel: “For Virat Kohli, it's a very big tour because India's never won a [Test] series in South Africa. They've won in England and Australia but this time in South Africa, it will be Virat Kohli's last chance as captain (to win a series in SA).”
He concluded, “He has got to score runs with the bat, he has got to make his team win, and he has to prove himself on the tour especially after the way the BCCI kicked him out (of the ODI captaincy).”