Mumbai: Senior batsman and Opener Rohit Sharma is the new one-day captain of the Indian cricket team. Rohit replaces Virat Kohli, who had taken over from MS Dhoni. Rohit Sharma took over the T20 captaincy from Kohli after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and will now lead both limited-overs sides.
The Mumbai Indians captain had first become a part of the leadership group in 2017 when he was named Kohli’s deputy before the Sri Lanka tour.
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Kohli had seen a future captain in him back in 2013. While speaking at an event eight years back, Kohli had named Rohit as one of the contenders to take up captaincy apart from him and Dhoni, who was leading the team in all formats back then.
The experienced opener recently led India in the three-match T20I series against New Zealand at home, in which the Men In Blue whitewashed the Kiwis 3-0.
Rohit Sharma has also been named vice-captain of the Test squad even though India has retained struggling batter Ajinkya Rahane in the Test team.
Rohit’s first assignment as a full-time one-day skipper will be the three-match ODI series in South Africa.
The first two one-dayers of the series will be played at Boland Park in Paarl on January 19 and 21 while the third ODI will be played at Newlands in Cape Town on January 23.
Rohit Sharma is the most successful captain in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The 34-year-old has led the Mumbai Indians (MI) to five IPL titles.
(_Vinayak Barot)
