Virat Kohli has seen a lot of ups and downs in his illustrious career so far, and the year 2021 has been a particularly challenging one for him. While Kohli failed to live up to the expectations with the bat, he stepped down as India’s T20I skipper and also relinquished the RCB captaincy.
On Wednesday (December 8), however, Kohli faced the biggest setback as BCCI sacked him from the position of ODI skipper and handed over the white-ball captaincy to Rohit Sharma going forward.
According to a PTI report, Virat was asked by the BCCI to step down as ODI captain in 48 hours but the 33-year-old did not resign. Consequently, the board did not wait any longer and passed the baton to Rohit.
The report further claims that the writing was on the wall when India were ousted from the T20 World Cup 2021 at the Super 12 stage. Apparently, the BCCI wanted to give Kohli an honourable exit route but the latter dared the board and eventually paid the price.
Virat Kohli may have failed to lift the ICC trophy in the 50-over format as skipper in two attempts, but his overall captaincy record was astonishing, to say the least. He led India to 65 wins from 95 ODIs and also guided the team to Champions Trophy 2017 final and World Cup 2019 semi-final under his tenure.
In fact, Kohli was looking forward to leading the Indian team in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home.
"I've decided to step down as the T20 captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October. Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all three formats and captaining regularly for last five to six years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead Indian team in Test and ODI cricket," Kohli had said in a statement while announcing his decision to leave the T20I captaincy.
Rohit Sharma’s stint as full-time ODI captain will begin with the 50-over series against South Africa next month. Team India are due to play three ODIs on the upcoming tour of South Africa, starting January 19.
(With PTI inputs)
