Amidst speculative drama that has been going on in Indian cricket ever since BCCI announced that Rohit Sharma will take over as the new ODI and T20I captaincy going forward from Virat Kohli, there has been a tremendous burst of unsubstantiated news breaks of a rift between the two India star batters.
Kohli had missed the New Zealand T20Is and the first Test match in Kanpur. Rohit led India to a 3-0 win in the T20Is, while Rahane captained India to a drawn match. Kohli came back for the Mumbai Test and won the match by 372 runs and pocketed the series as well. Rohit Sharma was rested from the two-Test series.
Now it was reported that Virat Kohli had requested time off after India’s three-Test series in South Africa to spend time with family. Rohit Sharma is supposed to lead India as a full-time captain in an ODI series in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the three-Test series due to a hamstring injury he suffered in Mumbai. Amidst these speculations, fans wondered whether Kohli will play in the ODI series or not.
Now as per Cricbuzz reports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has clarified that Virat Kohli will play in the three-ODI series as a batter after leading the team for five years.
Multiple sources in the board, including a couple of office-bearers, have told Cricbuzz that they have no knowledge of any request from the India Test captain to be excused for the ODIs, which begin on January 19, 2022.
"There is no truth in reports of Virat skipping the ODIs. He is a totally committed cricketer and there is no doubt about his participation,” a top BCCI member, and informed sources said as per Cricbuzz.
Cricbuzz confirmed that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was in Mumbai for the last two days, but there is no substantial news that he or any other board official met and talked with Kohli.
Apart from this, there is no clarity over Rohit Sharma’s availability for the three-match ODI series. Sources reported that Rohit is being monitored by BCCI physios.
The selection committee is expected to meet only after the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day competition on December 26 to pick the squad for the ODI series against South Africa. And they want to take as much time as possible before announcing his replacement.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
