Virat Kohli ODI Captaincy – India Tour of South Africa: Virat Kohli’s future as India ODI captain will be decided this week. If Government of India gives clearance to Indian team’s tour to South Africa, selectors will meet this week to select the team for Rainbow nation. Along with that the national selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma will also decide whether to continue with Kohli as skipper of ODI team or is it time to pass the baton: Follow India vs South Africa TOUR LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN
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Virat Kohli ODI Captaincy: Kohli’s fate as ODI skipper set to be decided this week, will selectors chose him as ODI Captain?
India Tour of South Africa: The BCCI top brass have said that India’s tour of South Africa remains on schedule, though they’re keeping a close watch on the situation surrounding the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant in that country.
“The Indian squad will be announced in the next few days. We will have everything ready from our end and then wait for the government’s nod. If the government tells us to abort the trip, then we would, but we need to keep the squad selected and ready,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.
Why Virat Kohli’s ODI Captaincy is on line?
While 2022 will primarily be dominated by T20Is due to another global event in Australia, there are only nine ODIs as of now in the next seven months with six (three each in South Africa and England) abroad and three in India.
There are currently two schools of thought in the BCCI. One that believes that Kohli could be allowed to continue as there are only a few ODIs left.
The other thought process is about not having two white ball skippers and giving Rohit enough time to prepare a potent team that could be serious title contenders for 2023 ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in India.
Who will take the final call? It is understood that there are strong arguments for both theories but the final call on Kohli’s fate as ODI skipper will be taken by president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.
Kohli’s inability to win any major multi-team event holds against him keeping the captaincy but his overall record has been more than decent in this format.
When will be the squad selected for South Africa? During this week, there is BCCI’s AGM on Saturday in Kolkata, where Chetan and company’s renewal of tenure as per norms is a part of the agenda.
Since there will be one bio-bubble, a jumbo squad is again expected to be selected across formats. The squad strength could be anything between 20 to 23, taking all formats into account.
It has been learnt that as of now BCCI and Cricket South Africa are committed to playing a full series unless there is any specific advice from the Indian government against touring the Rainbow Nation.
However, there are some talks in the periphery about the three- Test series being curtailed by a match.
“We will know in a few days’ time if the series would become a two-Test affair rather than three but there has been some back and forth discussions,” a local commentator said on air on YouTube while calling the India ‘A’ vs South Africa ‘A’ second ‘Test’ in Bloemfontein.
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