The veteran Indian opener, Rohit Sharma was appointed as the captain of the Indian ODI team earlier this week, succeeding Virat Kohli in the role. BCCI’s announcement on the captaincy switch in ODIs came less than a month after Rohit was also named as the captain in T20Is. Kohli had confirmed ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup that he would be leaving the leadership role in T20Is, citing workload management.
BCCI’s announcement on the ODI captaincy switch came as a surprise to many, as Kohli had specifically mentioned in his statement that he will continue leading the team in ODIs and Tests. Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma was equally surprised with the sudden announcement, insisting that the selectors should’ve been clearer with Kohli on their stand when he stepped down from T20I captaincy.
WATCH – Travis Head Caught Saying A Cuss Word During The Ashes Test At Gabba
During a chat on the Khelneeti podcast, Rajkumar Sharma said, “I haven’t talked to him (Virat Kohli) yet. His phone is switched off for some reason. But as far as my opinion is concerned, he had specifically stepped down from T20 captaincy and the selectors should’ve straightaway asked him to step down from both the white-ball formats, or not step down at all.”
Rajkumar Sharma further expressed that Sourav Ganguly’s recent comments on the change in captaincy were surprising for him. The BCCI President had said that the board had requested Kohli “not to step down as T20I skipper.”
Elaborating the same, Rajkumar Sharma said, “I read Sourav Ganguly’s comments recently that they had asked Kohli to not step down from T20I captaincy (before the World Cup). I don’t recall anything like that. This statement came as a surprise to me. There are different statements circulating around.”
ALSO READ: Dilip Vengsarkar Shares His Views On Split Captaincy In Indian Cricket
Virat Kohli’s childhood coach called for the selection committee to have show some transparency in the decision-making process.
Elaborating the same, Rajkumar Sharma said “The selection committee doesn’t provide a reason behind the decision. We don’t know what the management or the BCCI or the selectors want. There’s no clarification, no transparency at all. It’s a pity how this has happened. He has been such a successful one-day captain.”
