Reports: Virat Kohli contemplated quitting white-ball captaincy in low times, disappointments in ICC events

Virat Kohli’s sacking as ODI captain has been a hot topic of discussion in the cricket world lately. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Wednesday (December 8), took the cricket world by storm by announcing that Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian ODI team from now onwards. Notably, Kohli, who stepped down as India’s T20I captain post the T20 World Cup last month, had announced that he would continue to lead the side in the other two formats.

However, the selectors didn’t want two separate captains for the white-ball team. The same was revealed by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. The former Indian skipper also revealed that Kohli was requested to continue as T20I captain. As he didn’t agree to do so, the selectors gave the charge of both ODIs and T20Is to Rohit.

Virat Kohli often said he would give up the white-ball captaincy: Sources

Meanwhile, as per a report in Cricbuzz Plus, some team insiders and those close to Kohli conceded that the veteran cricketer might have seen the decision coming. It was also reported that the batter, during his low times and disappointing ends in the ICC events, would tell his closed ones that the captaincy burden is getting under his skin. Hence, he would step down from the role to concentrate on batting.

“He had often said that confidentially…that he would give up the white-ball captaincy,” said a source conversant with the development,” the source was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz Plus. Moreover, these conversations were taking place even before Chetan Sharma became the chief selector.

Also, the major belief is Kohli ‘the batter’ is more important than Kohli ‘the captain.’ As Chetan’s predecessors were of the same opinion, they would also have taken this major call, had an opportunity came their way. Meanwhile, Ganguly also said that Kohli accepted the decision made by the selection committee. He also backed Rohit to do well in the major role.

“If you look at Rohit’s record in whatever ODIs he has captained for India [eight wins in ten games], it’s very good. Bottom line – there can’t be two white-ball captains. I can’t explain more about what all was discussed and what selectors have said, but this is the primary reason for having Rohit as white-ball captain, and Virat accepted it,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.