Decision To Sack Virat Kohli As ODI Captain Taken By Selectors: Sources To NDTV

The decision to remove Virat Kohli as captain of India's ODI team was taken by the national selectors and the BCCI top brass had no prior communication with him, sources have told NDTV.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Rohit Sharma as India's ODI captain, with the opener replacing Virat Kohli in the role ahead of the upcoming tour to South Africa. The decision to remove Virat Kohli as captain of India's ODI team was taken by the national selectors and the BCCI top brass had no prior communication with him, sources have told NDTV. The 33-year-old Kohli wasn't asked to quit ODI captaincy ahead of Wednesday's announcement, according to sources.

The rationale behind the decision was to avoid split captaincy in white-ball cricket, sources further revealed. Rohit Sharma was appointed captain of India's T20I team ahead of last month's home series against New Zealand.

Kohli had earlier announced his decision to quit as T20I captain after the completion of the 2021 T20 World Cup.

The prolific batter had cited workload management as the reason behind the move.

"Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for the last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian Team in Test and ODI cricket," Kohli had stated at the time.