Mumbai: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said that once Virat Kohli stepped down as India’s T20 skipper, the selectors made up their mind to hand the ODI reins to Rohit Sharma as the national team couldn’t afford ‘too much leadership with two separate captains for limited overs cricket.The BCCI on Wednesday named Rohit the captain of the ODI team heading into the 2023 World Cup in India and Ganguly opened up on the recent development, asserting that the incumbent was spoken to and duly accepted the decision.
We had requested Virat not to step down as T20 captain, but he didn’t want to continue. So, the selectors felt that they cannot have two white-ball captains in two white-ball formats. That’s too much of leadership, Ganguly said.
Kohli stepped down as T20 captain after India’s disastrous World Cup campaign in the UAE in October-November. Ganguly said the selectors felt that multiple leaders in white-ball formats would lead to confusion and that is why the Chetan Sharma-led committee suggested that it would be better to have one captain.
I don’t know (about the confusion) but that is what they (selectors) felt. That is how this conclusion was arrived at – let Rohit captain in white ball and let Virat be the red-ball skipper, Ganguly added. But, was ex-skipper Kohli’s near 70 per cent win record in 95 ODI matches taken into consideration?
Yes, we did consider that but if you look at Rohit’s record in whatever ODIs he has captained for India, it is very good. Bottom line is that there can’t be two white-ball captains, said Ganguly.
Meanwhile, BCCI on Thursday thanked Virat Kohli for leading the team with grit, passion and determination during his four year tenure.
A leader who led the side with grit, passion & determination. Thank you Captain @imVkohli!, the board tweeted along with the picture featuring Kohli’s captaincy stats in the 50-over format.
Kohli, who took over limited-overs captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2017, has been one of India’s most successful white-ball captains. In 95 ODIs, he won 65, giving him an admirable winning percentage of 70-plus. In 45 T20Is, he led India to victory 27 times.
The star batter relinquished T20 captaincy at the end of the 2021 T20 World Cup where India failed to reach the knockout stages.
Sharma has been Kohli’s longstanding deputy in white ball cricket and his first assignment as India’s limited overs captain was the recent three-match T20 series against New Zealand at home last month, which the team won 3-0.