If you want, remove me as ODI captain:Virat Kohli throws the gauntlet at BCCI

It’s interesting how Virat Kohli has blamed work-load management as the reason to step down from T20 captaincy. It’s not surprising that he didn’t make any harsh self-assessment on his captaincy but it has thrown up a few questions. Post-pandemic break since December 2020, India has played just 8 T20s. Besides, it is a no-brainer that the most intense T20 captaincy job isn’t the international games but the IPL. So will Kohli step down as the RCB captain? By still playing all the three formats, and resigning from the least-played format, the workload question is still not resolved.

???????? ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Ds7okjhj9J

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 16, 2021

More questions swirl. Is this decision sustainable? What if Rohit Sharma led India to consistently winning T20s, how easy it would be to resist the temptation to give him the white-ball role in ODIs as well. Especially, as the personnel in white-ball cricket is largely the same across the two formats for India. The 2023 ODI World Cup at home might have been an understandably irresistible carrot to resist for Kohli. No one can blame him for ambition, it’s what took him to these dizzying heights, but it’s a job for the board and selectors to decide. In some ways, Kohli has thrown the gauntlet to the BCCI – if you want, remove me from ODIs; the ball is in your court.

Which is perfectly understandable of course. As in the case of retirement, the decision about the captaincy shouldn’t be left to the players. It should be the call of the selectors. Perhaps, the board will take that call sometime next year after watching how Rohit Sharma leads. Another interesting angle is how the recent times Kohli has moved in the perception scales as the man to lead in Tests. In it, Kohli is the Anti-Dhoni, of our times. With MS Dhoni, Test match captaincy seemed to stretch and test his instinctive capabilities. By the end, it appeared he was more at home landing up on the field and taking punts with the clock ticking down.

A T20 and ODI allowed him to do that. Tests, with their open nature and which require a lot of systematic pre-game preparation and extensive man-to-man work off the field, didn’t quite sit well with him. He would often let things drift. The white-ball icy-coolness seemed like a shrug of resignation to an event unfolding across five days. Another interesting angle is how the recent times Kohli has moved in the perception scales as the man to lead in Tests.

In it, Kohli is the Anti-Dhoni, of our times. With MS Dhoni, Test match captaincy seemed to stretch and test his instinctive capabilities. By the end, it appeared he was more at home landing up on the field and taking punts with the clock ticking down. A T20 and ODI allowed him to do that. Tests, with their open nature and which require a lot of systematic pre-game preparation and extensive man-to-man work off the field, didn’t quite sit well with him. He would often let things drift.

The white-ball icy-coolness seemed like a shrug of resignation to an event unfolding across five days. Another interesting angle is how the recent times Kohli has moved in the perception scales as the man to lead in Tests. In it, Kohli is the Anti-Dhoni, of our times. With MS Dhoni, Test match captaincy seemed to stretch and test his instinctive capabilities. By the end, it appeared he was more at home landing up on the field and taking punts with the clock ticking down.

A T20 and ODI allowed him to do that. Tests, with their open nature and which require a lot of systematic pre-game preparation and extensive man-to-man work off the field, didn’t quite sit well with him. He would often let things drift. The white-ball icy-coolness seemed like a shrug of resignation to an event unfolding across five days.

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