Virat Kohli decided to go to Windies to boost his team’s morale, not to secure captaincy, says source

After India’s exit from the cricket World Cup in the semi-final on July 10, reports of a rift in the Indian team surfaced. Speculation became rife that all was not well between captain Virat Kohli and limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

There were also reports that India’s captaincy will henceforth be split into two with Kohli taking charge in the Tests and Rohit in the limited-overs. But all speculation was buried as Kohli was picked as the captain for three formats in the upcoming series of the West Indies.

Reports said Kohli wanted to secure captaincy

It was even speculated that Kohli would be rested for the T20I and ODI series against the Caribbeans and will only join the squad for the two Tests starting August 22. But eventually, he was picked in the squads for all three series and reports then said that he did so to secure captaincy.

Now, a source which is close to the developments rubbished the reports. Speaking to timesnownews.com, the source said the ace batsman decided to go to the Windies in a bid to boost the team’s shattered morale following its shock defeat to New Zealand in the semi-final.

India had a rare top-order collapse in the rain-split game at Old Trafford while chasing 240 and a late-order fightback took them close but yet they fell short by 18 runs. MS Dhoni’s 50 and Ravindra Jadeja’s 77 added 112 runs for the seventh wicket but it wasn’t yet enough.

Kohli, who fell for just one in that game, didn’t want to leave his team with low morale. “The dressing room morale was extremely low following India’s exit from the semi-final of the World Cup. Virat didn’t want to leave the team alone in low morale on the next immediate tour (versus West Indies) and took the onus on himself to bring positiveness back into the team,” timesnownews.com quoted the source as saying.

“The World Cup exit had demoralised everyone within the team and Virat thought it would be unfair on his part to stay away from the team at the moment. So he decided to go to the West Indies and lead from the front rather than leaving the team alone when it needs its leader the most,” the sources added.

Kohli also has the opportunity to become the most successful India captain in Tests if he wins both the games against the Caribbeans. He now has 26 wins against Dhoni’s 27 and a couple of wins will see him bettering his predecessor’s all-time best record.