After the announcement of Rohit Sharma being named the captain of the ODI team, news has not stopped coming from the BCCI office. Now, the BCCI president himself has given his thoughts on this whole situation. Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president cleared on why Virat Kohli was asked to leave the captaincy for Rohit Sharma in ODI cricket.
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Sourav Ganguly said it was a decision taken by both board and selectors to have only one captain in the white-ball format. Furthermore, he said they also spoke to Kohli regarding the situation. The BCCI President thanked Virat Kohli for his excellent ODI career as a captain. "So it was decided that Virat will continue as Test captain and Rohit will take over as the white-ball captain. I as the President personally spoke to Virat Kohli. And the chairman of selectors also had spoken to him", Ganguly told ANI.
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"It's a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats,"
Sourav Ganguly via ANI
Sourav Ganguly on Rohit's leadership skills
Ganguly also feels that Rohit is the correct man to replace Virat. "We have full faith in Rohit Sharma's leadership abilities and Virat will continue as the Test captain. We as BCCI are confident that Indian cricket is in safe hands", he added.
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The South African series will kick off from 26th December on Boxing day. India will play three tests and three ODIs in South Africa. Reports say that Virat Kohli can take his name away from the ODI series due to personal reasons.
Interestingly, Rohit Sharma was also made the vice-captain of the Test team as well. That means the selectors might look for a new face to replace Ajinkya Rahane if he continues to flop with the bat.