BCCI and selectors were waiting for Virat Kohli to quit as ODI captain

Virat Kohli. Pic/AP, PTI

The BCCI announced a new captain for ODI cricket on Wednesday - Rohit Sharma. He has already led India in T20 cricket.

No surprise here, but there was a chance that the very statement the Board sent out on Wednesday could have mentioned that Kohli had quit as ODI captain, just like corporates do when they let go of high ranking people. There was no such corporate-like roundabout way.

The BCCI simply mentioned that Rohit would take over both the shorter forms of the game. It is learnt that the selectors/Board were expecting Kohli to put in his ODI papers, but that didn't happen. Several in the BCCI believe that it was only natural for him to do that because by now, he must have known that he was the establishment's choice to continue.

Instead Kohli appears to have played the axe-me-if-you-can game. The Board/selectors wielded the axe to bring the curtain fully down on his limited overs leadership. Yes, on one hand this is no way for a captain to go considering he led his team to several ODI highs and let's not forget that semi-final finish at the last World Cup in England.

He averages 59.07 and 52.04 in ODIs and T20 Internationals respectively and these figures indicate that captaincy did not affect his runs. But the BCCI was hell bent on being best prepared for next year's T20 World Cup to be held in Australia. New captain Rohit must have enough time to build his team for that campaign, the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel and the
BCCI felt.

The BCCI press release email which reached the inboxes of journalists at 7:17 pm, did not have a quote from either the new captain, Kohli or chief selector Chetan. Even as Team India is the most passionately followed outfit in world cricket, the rulers of cricket here don't believe in explanations for key decisions.

Also Read: No one-day wonder here! Ex-selectors feel Rohit Sharma replacing Virat Kohli was 'logical'