Virat Kohli to lead India across three formats in West Indies, says report

Ever since reports of a rift between India captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma have surfaced, people were worried a lot about the team’s condition. There was also speculation that the Indian cricket board could split the national captaincy and make Rohit the skipper in the limited-over formats while allowing Kohli to do the job in the longer format.

The reports of rift came out following India’s shocking exit from the cricket World Cup earlier this month when they lost to New Zealand by 18 runs at Old Trafford. The batting position of MS Dhoni, who came out at No.7 even when India were losing quick wickets, made things even worse.

India haven’t seen enough of split captaincy

The idea of split captaincy hasn’t worked long in India apart from some phases (2007-08 and 2015-17). In the past, while Anil Kumble had served as the captain in Tests and Dhoni in the limited-over formats, there was also a time when Kohli was leading in the longer format and Dhoni in the shorter ones.

While there have been suggestions that such format doesn’t work in India, the BCCI selection committee will decide whether to take certain burdens off shoulders of Kohli who is also a premier batsman of the team. The latest speculation over a split captaincy was fuelled by the rumours that the Indian team has found itself divided between two camps – one remaining loyal to Kohli and another to Rohit.

However, ahead of the selection of the squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, it seems all is well in the Indian team and the talks of division between the players weren’t true. Former India opener Gautam Gambhir also believed that such talks of the rift were not true and said the BCCI should step in and bury the controversy.

According to a report in Times of India, Kohli will lead India in all three formats in the West Indies and the same will be confirmed at the BCCI selection committee meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. “Sunday will be the day to put all this nonsense to rest once and for all,” the report cited sources close to the developments as saying.