The ODI captaincy conundrum
In a cricketing context, the last week was dominated by one word: resignation. Thanks to Virat Kohli. First, as India’s T20 captain after the World Cup and then as RCB’s after the Indian Premier League. The India captain is more than just a cricketer. He is a multi-crore brand whose every word carries a market value (tagged in lakhs if not crores), be it on social media or TV ads. Inevitably, whatever he says or does become big news. The day he announced he was going to step down as India’s T20 captain, experts and pretenders dissected his move threadbare. Reasons influencing his decision ranged from being under pressure due to under-performing as a batsman, toxic dressing room ... to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s presence in the dressing room during the World Cup.Between all these outrageous discussions and speculations, there are a few things that stood out.
One is the emergence of swashbuckling opener Rohit Sharma as the main contender to take over the reins of the T20 team at 34. It’s not an ideal age but given the demands of the shortest format and his uncanny ability to brew victories, he is expected to survive a little longer. What could be intriguing to see is whether it would be ideal for Rohit to lead only the T20 team (around 12-14 matches a year). Usually, when a country opts to go down the route of split captaincy, it’s one player becoming skipper across both white-ball formats. Kohli has not stepped down as ODI skipper as of now.
In an ideal world, one who leads in T20s should be leading in the 50 overs format too. It needs to be seen if the Indian cricket board would take this sticky decision and put Rohit in the hot seat or whether they would continue with Kohli. They need to arrive at a decision sooner rather than later because there is a 50-over World Cup in 2023. If they decide to kick the can down the road to next year, preparations for the ODI World Cup at home could be hampered.