Rohit Sharma named captain of India's ODI and T20I sides

(MENAFN- NewsBytes)

In a major development, Rohit Sharma has been named the captain of Team India's ODI and T20I sides. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed about the development on Wednesday. Rohit will lead the Indian ODI side on the upcoming South Africa tour. He had earlier taken over the T20I captaincy from Virat Kohli. Here are further details.

Rohit will now lead the Indian cricket team in white-ball cricket (ODIs and T20Is). Earlier this year, Kohli had announced that he would step down as India's T20I captain after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. Thereafter, Rohit led India in the T20I series against New Zealand at home. And now, Kohli will only lead India's Test side.

As of now, Rohit has led India in 32 internationals (ODIs and T20Is). India have won 26 and lost just six in his leadership. Interestingly, the Men in Blue are unbeaten in the last six internationals under Rohit. In 2018, Rohit led Team India to the Asia Cup title in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India recently won the NZ T20I series under Rohit.

India's experiment with split-captaincy has turned out to be fruitful in the past. MS Dhoni had handed over the reins in Tests to Kohli after retiring in 2014. However, the former captain continued to lead in ODIs and T20Is until 2017. With Rohit at the helm, Kohli would have the constant pressure of captaincy relieved. This move can increase the career span of Kohli.

Kohli is set to lead Team India in the three-match Test series against South Africa. Meanwhile, Rohit has taken over from Ajinkya Rahane as the Test vice-captain. However, the latter has been retained in the Test squad. Marquee players KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami return to the Test fold. Jayant Yadav, who impressed against New Zealand, also finds a spot.

The likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Shubman Gill have been ruled out of the series due to injuries. Jadeja, who missed the Wankhede Test with a swollen right forearm, could be out of action for India's forthcoming assignments. Gill was ruled out of that series, suffering a stress injury. The status of Axar's injury is yet to be ascertained.

India's squad for SA Test series: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj. Standby players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla.

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