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India eye split captaincy? Virat Kohli in in Tests, Rohit Sharma in ODIs, T20Is; BCCI denies

The Big Rumour: Virat Kohli to quit as India captain after the T20 World Cup 2021 and Rohit Sharma to take over as skipper in ODIs, T20Is. However, Kohli continue as Test captain. Find the details.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

Mumbai, September 13: Virat Kohli struggle with the bat has become a mini elephant in the room. It is not that Kohli has not been scoring, and in fact he had registered two fifties in a row against England in the third and fourth Tests.

But the hundreds have dried up since late 2019 and that's not a pleasant sight for a batsman who, not so long ago, astonished the cricketing world with his ability to churn out centuries in a heap.

Several reasons have been attributed to this drying up of the well - technical to parenthood. In that context, it has now emerged that Kohli might relinquish the captaincy at least in the limited-over formats and Rohit Sharma will take over the role in T20Is and ODIs.

The upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021 could be the final assignment for Kohli as India captain in coloured clothing, irrespective of the tournament result. However, Kohli in all likelihood would continue as the Test captain as India has achieved some fine results home and away under him in the last three years or so.

Kohli, 32, has captained India in 95 ODIs and led the team to 65 wins while suffered 27 defeats, and he has a winning percentage of 70.43. In 45 T20Is, India have won 27 matches and lost 14 matches under Kohli.

Under Rohit, India have a good record too. Rohit has led India in 10 ODIs and won 8 of them while losing two. The Mumbaikar has led India in 19 T20Is, winning 15 and losing 4 matches.

Kohli, apparently, wants to focus more on his batting that has seen a dip in the last few months and get back to the heights he belongs to.

"Virat can play for a long time for India and he has the stature to take a call on it (captaincy) whenever he decides. It is his personal choice. At the moment, there is no such discussion and if it comes up then we will look into it," said a BCCI official.

At one time, Kohli reigned over the ICC Rankings across the formats but now has slipped down in each one of them. Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Babar Azam have gone ahead of him in the ICC Rankings.

Rohit is ahead of him in the Test rankings as well as Kohli has slid out of top 5 after a very long time.

Even otherwise, the clamour has been on for a while to hand over the white ball leadership role to Rohit, who has been immensely successful in the IPL for his team Mumbai Indians. Under Rohit, the Mumbai outfit has win five IPL titles to be the most successful franchise in the history of the tournament ahead of Chennai Super Kings.

While Kohli, who took charge of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013, has not been able to land the team a title in 8 editions but has led them to two finals.

The good form of Rohit too has given him an edge. Rohit who has always been comfortable in the white ball formats, recently showed signs of mastering the Test cricket too. Since getting the elevation as Test opener in the home series against South Africa in 2019, Rohit has been in fine touch and recently scored his first overseas hundred against England at the Oval in a winning cause.

Story first published: Monday, September 13, 2021, 15:11 [IST]
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