The ‘inside story’: What prompted BCCI to replace Virat Kohli with Rohit Sharma as ODI skipper?

• The BCCI’s announcement of Rohit Sharma being made India’s ODI captain had left many surprised

• BCCI president Sourav Ganguly suggested that the board didn’t want two different white-ball captains

• Kohli had voluntarily left T20I captaincy in September but had expressed desire to remain ODI and Test skipper

Can a cricket team have two different white-ball captains? Such a leadership split isn’t common in international cricket, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly explained the same as he revealed why Rohit Sharma replaced Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain. While Ganguly himself didn’t delve into the details, a report has highlighted why exactly this change has been made.

Breaking his silence on the big captaincy change in the Indian team, the BCCI chief revealed that the board had asked Kohli to not quit T20I captaincy as there can’t be two different captains in the two limited-overs formats. While Kohli was keen to relinquish the responsibility from the shortest format, the BCCI was not left with another option but to bring a change in ODI captaincy too.

As per a report in Indian Express, however, The decision took place as the BCCI wanted complete separation between white-ball and red-ball cricket to avoid any confusion.

“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 was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

What’s rather surprising is that the report further claims that Kohli wasn’t even informed about the captaincy change by the BCCI beforehand. While Kohli himself had announced the decision to step down as India’s T20I skipper three months ago, it seems like he was too caught off guard with the ODI captaincy change announcement.

On Wednesday, a tweet from the board read: “The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.” There, however, was no statement or explanation from the BCCI on the matter.

Kohli’s captaincy has been a subject of debate for long. The 33-year-old had led the Men in Blue in 2017 Champions Trophy, the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2021 T20 World Cup, but had failed to win a title in any one of them.

Ahead of the 2021 event, Kohli publicly announced his decision to step down as captain after the tournament but maintained that he wanted to continue leading the team in ODIs and T20Is. India’s early elimination from the T20 World Cup didn’t help his case much as doubts intensified over his ability to lead the team from the front in major events. With India not playing many ODIs before the 2023 World Cup, the BCCI clearly wanted to give Rohit the time and opportunity to prepare his team for the ODI World Cup.

Kohli probably had the 2023 ODI World Cup in mind as he stepped down as T20I captain but the BCCI clearly had other ideas. While Kohli remains the Test skipper, at least for the time being, the fact that Rohit has been promoted as India’s vice-captain in the longest format too, there’s no doubting that the leadership equation in the Test team is likely to be affected a little.