Virat Kohli relinquishes T20 captaincy
Kohli has said his decision was purely voluntary, though rumours had been floating of late about the BCCI wanting him to step down from the T20 international captaincy.
Rumours were floating of late, of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) contemplating a change in captaincy for T20 internationals—and it happened last Thursday. However, it was Virat Kohli himself who announced the decision last Thursday, through a post made from his Twitter handle. He will retire after the T20 World Cup in October.
He will remain a part of the team, though. And he retains the Test and ODI captaincies, as of now, at least.
Despite the rumours, some reports also say that there was no pressure from the team management to take such a call; the decision was completely voluntary.
Whatever the reason, the speculation now is about the next captain. Rohit Sharma is the frontrunner, apparently. His name for the captain’s post is being spoken about. His success as India captain in Kohli’s absence, as well as his uniformly great performances as the captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League makes him the ideal candidate. He himself has not said anything on the matter, however.
Kohli’s announcement came exactly a month before the T20 World Cup. The tournament is scheduled to start on October 17 with the group matches. India’s first match, in the second round, named Super 12, is on October 24, against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Virat Kohli’s success as the captain of the Indian team has been unprecedented, at least as far as statistics are concerned. However, the lack of ICC trophies has seen demands for a change in white-ball captaincy rising over the last couple of years.
“Understanding workload is a very important thing … I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket. I have given everything to the team during my time as T20 captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 team as a batsman moving forward,” the 32-year-old said in his post.
There are no plans, however, for Kohli to hand over the ODI captaincy as yet, though a decision on that cannot be entirely ruled out in the near future.
Right now, with this year as well as the next year set to feature back-to-back T20 World Cups (as the one scheduled for 2020 is being held this year due to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic), only the shortest format of the game is in focus.
India will host the ODI World Cup in 2023. A more concrete call over Kohli’s captaincy in the 50-over format can be expected to be taken after the two T20 World Cups are over.
