The cricketing world is still discussing BCCI’s decision of removing Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain and handing over the reins of both ODI and T20I teams to Rohit Sharma. The BCCI also appointed Rohit Sharma as the vice-captain in Test cricket.
This decision has been debated since December 8th onwards, many have opined on the pros and cons of these decisions.
This includes former India spinner Venkatapathy Raju also, who was part of the board's selection panel. He believes now that Kohli has been relieved of his captaincy duties in limited-overs cricket, it could well signal the revival of his free-flowing best with the willow.
The star India batter has not scored a century since November of 2019, making it a total of 57 innings across formats that he has not registered a century in international cricket.
"Of late, the match-winner in Kohli was missing. So, this may be an attempt to find the match-winner in him again. And Rohit has led India with distinction whenever he has been given the opportunity. Probably, he will play more freely now," Raju told Mid-Day.
Another former chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad feels that Rohit’s appointment as India ODI captain makes sense given the number of ODIs lineup for India next year.
"More than the feeling of sacking, I think this was the more logical thought. We are playing only seven or eight ODI games in the next season. So, probably, the selectors would have felt that one captain for both formats [would be better] because T20 and 50-over players are almost similar barring a few here and there," Prasad told Mid-Day.
He added: "So, in order to avoid any confusion with the style of captaincy, they [the selectors] would have thought of giving Rohit the captaincy for white-ball cricket. Although Rohit would be leading the T20 team, he would have his ideas as far as identifying the core players [is concerned]."
