Rohit Sharma likely to replace Virat Kohli as Team India's limited-overs captain post T20 World Cup: Reports

Split captaincy has been a topic of debate in Team India, especially after Virat Kohli failed to guide the Men in Blue to the ODI World Cup title in 2019. After India failed in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final as well, talks were rife that Kohli should be relieved of captaincy in the limited-overs format for him to focus on his batting across all forms of the game and take the Test side forward.

Ahead of the T20 World Cup, there are reports that suggest Kohli is willing to give up captaincy in white-ball format to his deputy Rohit Sharma. "Virat himself will make the announcement. He is of the view that he needs to concentrate on his batting and go back to becoming what he’s always been — the best batsman in the world,” TOI quoted sources as saying.

"Captaincy in 3 formats affecting Virat’s batting. We realise spin-masters will be at work, giving their own twists to these developments. That’s the reason BCCI is planning this well in advance. In the end, Virat and Rohit are on the same page. If he had to ever take over as white-ball captain, that time is now. And it’s going to be a win-win for the Indian team because the two senior cricketers are so well in tune with each other,” the source added.

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For the unversed, Kohli's limited-overs captaincy has been under the scanner for sometime now. He led India to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semi-finals of 2019 ODI World Cup, but the national side returned without a title in the two marquee events. Moreover, Rohit's superior record as an IPL captain (leading Mumbai Indians to 5 IPL trophies) have always seen many former cricketers favouring him over Kohli as captain in the shorter formats.