India ODI captain – Virat Kohli Sacked, Rohit Sharma New Captain: Virat Kohli is SACKED. Yes, you read it right – Virat Kohli is SACKED as India’s ODI captain by BCCI. The board as reported by InsideSport earlier has decided to handover ODI captaincy as well to Rohit Sharma: Follow India Tour of South Africa on InsideSport.IN.
Unlike in the case of T20 Captaincy – which Kohli himself stepped down – BCCI sacked him from the ODI captaincy.
As reported earlier by InsideSport, BCCI was not interested in having different captains for T20 & ODI & the writing for Kohli was already on the wall.
According to available information, Kohli was left shell-shocked by the decision.
“He wasn’t expecting it. He wanted to lead India till 2023 World Cup. He has achieved so much for the team, he doesn’t deserve such unceremonious exit”, said a source close to Kohli.
India ODI captain: Virat Kohli SACKED, not too pleased BCCI gives ODI captaincy as well to Rohit Sharma: Follow LIVE Updates
3 months ago, while leaving T20I captaincy, Kohli had expressed his desire to lead India in Tests and ODIs, going ahead.
“Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket,” he wrote on Instagram on September 16.
He also mentioned his conversation with former India head coach Ravi Shastri, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and board secretary Jay Shah before taking the decision.
Giving up Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captaincy in the Indian Premier League, too, was his own choice.
But on Wednesday, board put up just a 1 sentence release saying Rohit Sharma will lead in T20’S & ODI – clearly indicating that board has moved on from Virat Kohli.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward,” BCCI said in a statement on Wednesday.
India ODI captain: Virat Kohli left shell-shocked with selectors & BCCI’s yorker, name Rohit Sharma as ODI captain
When Virat Kohli decided to step down as the T20I captain, it was his intention to continue to lead India in ODIs at least till the 2023 World Cup which will be hosted in India. But at a lengthy selection meeting, Kohli was, in a way, forced to swallow the bitter pill.
But BCCI’s message for Kohli was clear, ‘Step down voluntarily within 48 hours or be removed.’ After Kohli refused to budge, Sourav Ganguly led board did exactly what happened to its president back in 2005 when Rahul Dravid was installed as the captain.
But Kohli fans will feel hard done by considering their idol’s ODI records as the captain. If winning matches is concerned, no one comes close to Kohli in ODI captaincy record in India, not even MS Dhoni. Furthermore, BCCI didn’t even bother to issue a thank you post on social media for their most successful captain in ODIs (by winning percentage).
Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain:
Matches: 95
Won: 65
Lost: 27
Winning %: 70.43
Runs scored: 5,449
Average: 72.65
| Player | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | % |
| Virat Kohli | 2013-21 | 95 | 65 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 70.43 |
| MS Dhoni | 2007-18 | 200 | 110 | 74 | 5 | 11 | 59.52 |
| Rahul Dravid | 2000-07 | 79 | 42 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 56.00 |
| Mohd Azharuddin | 1990-99 | 174 | 90 | 76 | 2 | 6 | 54.16 |
| Kapil Dev | 1982-87 | 74 | 39 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 54.16 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1999-05 | 147 | 76 | 66 | 0 | 5 | 53.52 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 1980-85 | 37 | 14 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 40 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1996-00 | 73 | 23 | 43 | 1 | 6 | 35.07 |
India ODI captain: Virat Kohli left shell-shocked with selectors & BCCI’s yorker, name Rohit Sharma as ODI captain
BCCI cites continuity as the primary factor. After Virat Kohli stepped down as the T20I captain after the T20 World Cup, BCCI and selectors were against the idea of two skippers in white-ball cricket. In the selection meeting for the South Africa tour, Virat Kohli’s ODI captaincy was the biggest discussion.
India ODI captain: Virat Kohli left shell-shocked with selectors & BCCI’s yorker, name Rohit Sharma as ODI captain
Even though many in BCCI didn’t want to take away Kohli’s ODI captaincy right away and wanted to give him 2022 as India wouldn’t be playing many ODIs, they decided against it. With the ODI World Cup in 2023, selectors wanted to have continuity in white-ball cricket.
India ODI captain: Virat Kohli left shell-shocked with selectors & BCCI’s yorker, name Rohit Sharma as ODI captain
The idea of two different captains for T20Is and ODIs didn’t go down well with them as the same players would be reporting to two different captains in white-ball cricket.
“Virat has led the team successfully in ODIs but having two captains in limited-overs cricket can create unnecessary complications as the set of players will be same,” a BCCI official told InsideSport.
Now, it’s official and Kohli might be regretting his decision of stepping down from the T20I captaincy.
India ODI captain: Virat Kohli left shell-shocked with selectors & BCCI’s yorker, name Rohit Sharma as ODI captain
