Mumbai, Dec 09:It was just a line at the end of the press release announcing the Test squad for the South Africa tour. The BCCI, on Wednesday, underplayed ViratKohli’s sacking as India’s ODI captain and the handing over the overall white-ball charge to Rohit Sharma. The Test opener will now lead both T20I and ODI sides. A senior BCCI official informed that the decision was in the works for a while but it was the selectors who took the final call. “The BCCI wanted absolute clarity between red-ball and white-ball cricket. The BCCI wanted a complete (leadership) separation between the longest format and shorter formats to avoid any confusion. In the end, it was left to the selectors to take a call. They decided to appoint Rohit as new ODI captain,” a BCCI insider told The Indian Express. Unlike the T20I captaincy change, where the announcement came from Kohli, citing his workload, the ODI leadership switch is seen as a BCCI decision. Three months ago, while relinquishing T20I captaincy, Kohli had expressed his desire to lead India in Tests and ODIs, going ahead. “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 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,” he wrote on Instagram on September 16.However, after India’s early exit from the T20 World Cup, it was clear that BCCI wasn’t on the same page as Kohli. They would make it official at the first given opportunity. The Test squad announcement that had Kohli as captain and Sharma as vice-captain ended thus: “The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.” The Indian Express has also learnt that Kohli wasn’t informed about the decision beforehand. Again, this was a departure from the past. At the time he relinquished T20I captaincy, Kohli had mentioned his conversation with former India head coach Ravi Shastri, BCCI president SouravGanguly and board secretary Jay Shah before taking the decision. Giving up Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captaincy in the Indian Premier League, too.
