Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. (Source: PTI)
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been in superb form lately and he scored his 31st ODI century against New Zealand on Sunday to grab the second spot in the list of most ODI tons by a batsman. However, he might soon be replaced by Rohit Sharma for the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka as the skipper. Well, this has nothing to do with Kohli’s performance or leadership abilities but with India’s highly busy schedule. According to a report by The Indian Express, Virat Kohli has asked BCCI for a break citing personal reasons. If this request is accepted by the board, the Indian captain will miss the December leg of the upcoming Sri Lanka tour which includes one Test plus the entire ODI and T20I series.
When Kohli missed the last match of the Test series against Australia earlier this year, Ajinkya Rahane led the side in his absence. However, the equation changes when it comes to limited overs matches. If Kohli misses the December leg of the tour, Rohit Sharma who is the vice-captain of the ODI and T20I team might captain team India for the first time. Rohit has shown his leadership abilities while captaining Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
Even in the first ODI against New Zealand where Kohli didn’t field due to cramps in the initial overs, Rohit was seen marshalling the troops. 24. “Kohli has informed the BCCI that there are some personal reasons and that is why he won’t be available in the month of December. Kohli has been playing non-stop cricket for quite sometimes now and he certainly would like to be fresh for South Africa tour in January,” a source in the board was quoted as saying by IE.
Meanwhile, BCCI announced the team for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka this afternoon. While Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma kept their place in the team, the selectors also recalled KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Sri Lanka will be playing its lone warm-up game on November 11 in Kolkata with the first Test to be played in Nagpur from November 16-20.
