India’s red-ball skipper, Virat Kohli, will miss the ODI series in South Africa, whereas white-ball skipper, Rohit Sharma, will miss the Test series. Kohli is the Test captain, and Rohit is the new white-ball captain for Team India. Their absence from the corresponding formats has nothing to do with the currently underway drama surrounding the transfer of Team India’s white-ball leadership.
Kohli has already told the Indian cricket authority (BCCI) that he will be having a rest in early January. Kohli had conveyed that he would be unable to play in the ODI series since it overlapped with his daughter’s 1st birthday.
Sharma, on the other hand, has been termed out due to a hamstring problem. Fortunately, the ailment is not a major, and the starter is anticipated to be fit to lead the white-ball side in 3 weeks.
Priyank Panchal replaces injured Rohit Sharma in India’s Test squad: BCCI
Sharma proceeded through a nets workout on Sunday and sustained a mild hand injury when a rising ball smacked him on the gloves. The batter was in discomfort, but he immediately recovered. It is not the hand ailment that has forced him to miss the Tests versus South Africa. The circumstances, although purely accidental, are certain to spark speculations and rumours about personal ties between 2 of the world’s best cricketers.
Nearly 3 months when Kohli stepped down as T20I skipper, the BCCI confirmed in a brief press release that Sharma will take over as white-ball captain (ODIs and T20Is). The following day, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly issued a statement stating that he and the officials had “personally talked with Kohli.” Ganguly revealed that the panel had requested that the 33-year-old not quit as T20 skipper.
Kohli departed as India’s T20 skipper on September 16 in a social media post but said that he will remain to lead the squad in Tests and ODIs. At the moment, BCCI officials have confirmed that there was no possibility of splitting the white-ball captaincy and that it’s only a question of time once Sharma took over the ODI captaincy.
Indian dressing room has been fraught with egos
Over the previous 4 years, both Kohli and Sharma have been criticized for being the 2 conventional in the Team India dressing room, who supposedly makes it impossible to get along well with one other.
“Over the years, the Indian dressing room has been fraught with egos. Be it Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammed Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag or Gautam Gambhir. But that doesn’t mean that it has boiled over to what they go and do out there on the field. They’re professionals and are required to behave in a certain fashion at all times,” say those tracking these two individuals closely.
Meanwhile, with Ravi Shastri as head coach, the 2 cricketers proceeded about their professional tasks while maintaining friendly personal interactions. Now, handling these 2 star cricketers would be the most difficult challenge for new head coach Rahul Dravid.
The 2 players are now desperate to play together until the squad recovers from South Africa. Similarly, all of the talk around Kohli’s desire to retire from white-ball forms is just that, buzz.
