Team India’s regular skipper Virat Kohli shocked everyone, last evening, with his sudden decision to step down from the shortest format captaincy post the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021. Though a few sources earlier claimed what was about to happen in the Indian dressing room, however, BCCI, soon, shot down all the rumours and claims from the sources and neutralised the talks among netizens.
However, a few days later, Virat himself announced his decision to play as a batter in the Indian T20I side which took everyone on their toes. The cricketer announced that he will no longer serve the Indian T20I side as a skipper, though he will give his everything as a batter.
It is no brainer that Rohit Sharma will be his successor in the T20I format as far as the captaincy is concerned, however, did Virat actually wanted Rohit to be his successor? There are several questions revolving around and a few theories have also been made in not more than 24 hours.
Moreover, the idea of split captaincy works well with one white ball skipper and one test skipper. However, the Indian team is somewhere in the middle of the sea. Virat is looking to have his hold in the ODI and Test captaincy but doesn’t want to continue as the T20I captain, which also shows a red flag.
Let’s dive into some of the conspiracy theories that are taking rounds around social media ever since Virat announced his decision to leave the T20I captaincy.
Theories revolving around Virat Kohli’s exit from Indian T20I captaincy
Virat didn’t want Rohit as his ODI deputy:
It is being circulated that Virat Kohli wanted his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma, to be removed from the vice captain’s role as he is already 34-years old. It is learnt that Virat also conveyed the same to the BCCI, which, apparently didn’t go well with the board.
Kohli wanted Rahul to be his ODI successor and proposed the same against the selectors. Furthermore, Virat Kohli was anticipating wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant as his T20I deputy.
However, all this went against what Virat thought due to Rohit Sharma’s imprint and influence in Indian cricket.
“This didn’t go down well with the Board which believes that Kohli doesn’t want an actual successor,” a Board source was quoted as telling PTI.
“Virat knew that he would have been removed from white-ball captaincy. If the team doesn’t do well at the UAE World T20, he was gone for good as far as white-ball leadership is concerned,” a BCCI insider was quoted as saying by the news agency.
ALSO READ: Vivo IPL 2021: Strongest RCB Playing11 for IPL 2021 phase 2 matches
Fear of losing white ball captaincy:
The second theory proposed against social media is about the safeguard of Virat’s limited-overs captaincy. It is crystal clear that Virat Kohli has brutally failed to keep his winning records intact in the ICC event’s knockout matches.
The loss of ICC 2017 Champions Trophy Final, 2019 ODI World Cup Semi-Final and the 2021 World Test Championship Final has daunted the Indian dressing room for a long time now.
The experts have already guessed that Virat would lose his limited-overs status to Rohit Sharma, or to someone other, if he fails to produce an ICC trophy win for the country in the upcoming few events.
The T20 World Cup 2021 was expected to be Virat’s litmus test following which the fate of his captaincy would have been decided by the BCCI.
If reports are to be believed, Virat’s attempt to demote Rohit from the vice-captain’s role was a step closer to safeguard his captaincy in ODIs.
Virat Kohli’s rule of autocracy:
To add fuel to the theories floating around, Virat was no longer experiencing 100 per cent support from his allies. His style of leadership has been synonymised as an autocracy.
Multiple times, his decisions proved disastrous for India in international matches. His gamble to play two specialist spinners in the World Test Championship Final is a prime example of the biggest blunders of Virat Kohli’s test career.
Despite getting a chance to change the playing11 after the match got delayed by a day due to rain, Virat kept his playing11 unchanged and opted to play two spinners instead of a specialist seamer.
Moreover, in recent India vs England test series, Virat left out Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing11. Despite carrying a big record in the test format, Ashwin’s exclusion left the entire cricket fraternity stunned.
It has been reported that Virat Kohli becomes inaccessible once he bids goodbye to the cricket field, unlike MS Dhoni.
“The problem with Virat is his communication. In the case of MS Dhoni, his room would be open 24×7 and players could just walk in, play the PS4, have a meal and let their hair down and if required talk cricket. Beyond the ground, Kohli is literally incommunicado,” a former India player reportedly told PTI.
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli confirms he will step down from T20I captaincy after T20 World Cup 2021
