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SpORTS NOVEMBER 19, 2021 | The Indian Eye 40

mEn in BluE

is it right time for virat Kohli to bow out

of captaincy of white-ball team?

Rohit Sharma era of captaincy is here as after he was formally announced as the skipper for the upcoming T20I series
against New Zealand, beginning November 17

OuR BuREAu and Iyer had good showing in Indi-
an Premier League (IPL) 2021 and
Mumbai
hence they have been rewarded. Virat
irat Kohli had stepped down Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bum-
as the skipper of the T20I side. rah, Mohammed Shami have all been
vKohli had the T20 World Cup rested for the T20I series against New
as his last assignment as skipper in the Zealand as these players have been
shortest format of the game. Kohli’s on the road since June this year.
tenure as Indian captain in T20I came Hardik Pandya has not been
to end after the side rounded off the named in the squad and it is not
Super 12s stage of the ICC Men’s T20 known whether he has been rested
World Cup 2021 with a resounding or he has been dropped from the
nine-wicket victory over Namibia in squad. Hardik did not bowl against
Group 2. Kohli had announced be- Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, and
fore the start of the ongoing T20 WC he returned to bowling action in the
that he will be stepping down as cap- second game against New Zealand.
tain of the India T20I side. With India New Zealand will play a T20I se-
suffering heavy defeats against Paki- ries and then follow it up with two Test
stan and New Zealand in the opening matches. The T20Is will be played on
two matches in the showpiece event, November 17 in Jaipur, November 19
there were speculations over Kohli’s in Ranchi and November 21 in Kol-
future as the captain in the other two kata. The two Tests will be played in
formats as well. Kanpur (November 25-29) and Mum-
Now, the All-India Senior Selec- bai (December 3-7).
tion Committee on Friday picked the Meanwhile, former Indian crick-
squad for the upcoming two-match eter Virender Sehwag said Virat Kohli
Test series against New Zealand. In Indian Skipper Virat Kohli (ANI) should not leave the captaincy of the
the squad announced, Ajinkya Rah- rest two formats -- Test and ODIs --
ane will lead the team in the first Test after the latter played his last T20I as
in Kanpur which is scheduled for No- a skipper on Monday. “This is Virat’s
vember 25. Virat Kohli will join the decision but I don’t think he should
squad for the second Test in Mumbai leave the rest two format’s captain-
and will lead the team. The Mumbai cy. If he wants to play just as a play-
Test is scheduled for December 3rd. er, it is his decision. I feel under his
As expected, Jasprit Bumrah, Mo- captaincy, India is playing good and
hammad Shami, and Rohit Sharma his record as a captain is brilliant,”
have been given rest by the BCCI. said Sehwag on his official Facebook
Virat Kohli had spoken after his page, reacting to a fan’s question on
last game as T20I skipper - against Na- whether Kohli’s should step down as
mibia - that it was time to manage his skipper altogether.
workload. The run-machine had also In the meantime, Kohli has said
mentioned the “heavy workload” and he will stop playing cricket the day his
the pressure it had created on him. aggression and intensity decreases on
“Relief firstly (on leaving T20I the field. “That (his aggression) is nev-
captaincy). It’s been an honour but er going to change. The day it does,
things need to be kept in the right per- I’ll stop playing cricket. Even before
spective. I felt this was the right time Ajinkya Rahane will lead the team in first Test against New Zealand (ANI) I became captain, I have always loved
to manage my workload. It’s been six to contribute in some way or the oth-
or seven years of heavy workload and But the Rohit Sharma era of cap- KL Rahul has been named er. Surya didn’t get much game time
there is a lot of pressure. The guys have taincy is here as after he was formally as vice-captain. Ruturaj Gaikwad, in this World Cup, so I thought it will
been fantastic, I know we haven’t got announced as the skipper for the up- Harshal Patel, Venkatesh Iyer, be a nice memory to take back. That
the results here but we have played coming T20I series against New Zea- Avesh Khan, Axar Patel have also was the idea (behind not batting him-
some really good cricket,” he had said. land, beginning November 17. been named in the squad. Gaikwad self),” he said.

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