- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
EXACTLY after a month since he captained India for the final time in T20 internationals, Virat Kohli lost the national captaincy in the one-day internationals as Rohit Sharma replaced him on Wednesday (8), thus taking charge in both the white-ball formats ahead of India’s upcoming tour of South Africa. Kohli will continue to be India’s captain in Tests.
Kohli led India in all three formats till the T20 World Cup last month after which he stepped down from the shortest format, paving way for Sharma, who has been the vice captain in the shorter formats, to lead. Sharma captained India as a full-fledged captain in the recent T20 international series against New Zealand at home which India won 3-0.
ALSO READ: Beating New Zealand, India regain ICC top rank in Tests
In the 50-over format, many expected Kohli would remain the one-day international skipper till the 2023 World Cup which will be held at home but the Indian cricket board decided to make a single captain in the white-ball formats.
SA-India first Test to be held in Centurion: Cricket South Africa
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee … decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward,” Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
Kohli has led India 95 times in the 50-over format starting in 2013, the fourth-most number after Mahendra Singh Dhoni (200), Mohammed Azharuddin (174) and Sourav Ganguly (146) but has a much higher winning percentage (70.43) than them.
In the 2019 World Cup held in England, Kohli led India to finish as the top team in the league stage but lost the semi-final clash against the Kiwis. He also captained India to a 5-1 win against South Africa in a six one-day international-series that India played in the African nation in 2018.
Sharma has so far led India only as a stand-in captain in the absence of Kohli. He has captained in 10 matches and won eight of them. He also led India to title win in the 2018 Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
The 34-year-old Sharma, who is one of the best opening batters the game has seen, has also been elevated as the captain of the Indian Test team replacing an out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane who failed to make the playing XI in India’s last match against New Zealand at home.
