Rohit Sharma will be captaining India full-time for the upcoming ODI and T20I series against West Indies and he is touted to be the next Test captain after Virat Kohli’s resignation.
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The India vs West Indies ODI and Twenty20 International series is a new chapter in the history of Indian cricket team. This will be the first series that will not have Virat Kohli as the full-time captain of the side. Rohit Sharma, who missed the tour of South Africa due to a hamstring injury, will now be the captain full-time. The match in Ahmedabad on Saturday will be historic, as India will become the first nation to play 1000 ODIs. However, after the end of the series, India will take on Sri Lanka in three T20Is and two Tests.
With Virat Kohli now stepping down as the captain in all three formats, Rohit Sharma is the frontrunner for being the captain in all three formats. Although there have been fitness concerns on Rohit Sharma, many tout him as one of the favorites to assume the captaincy in all three formats. But, when he was asked about the Test captaincy, Rohit Sharma decided to take it one step at a time.
“There’s time for that. My focus is on limited-overs cricket. Workload management is important. We could lose a few series because we need to keep changing players, but we’re ready for that. Forget Test captaincy for now. I have no idea for now. There is West Indies and Sri Lanka series, for now, to focus on,” Rohit Sharma said in the pre-match press conference.
The India vs West Indies series will begin on February 6 in the ODI series in Ahmedabad. But, the build-up has been marred by cases of coronavirus in the Indian cricket team. Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Navdeep Saini and Axar Patel have all tested positive for COVID-19. Mayank Agarwal and Ishan Kishan have been drafted in, with Rohit Sharma giving an insight into the playing 11.
Read – Sachin Tendulkar Dominates India’s ODI history ahead of 1000th ODI
Ishan Kishan will open the innings while Rohit has stated that he would like to see Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal together. “These two guys have been great performers for us in the past. They’ve certainly created an impact in those years whenever they’ve played together. In the middle, why they have been left out was because of combination. We wanted to get an extra batter in. At times we wanted to get an extra seamer in. So that is probably why one of the two have missed out, but it’s certainly on my mind to get them back together, Kuldeep especially,” Rohit stated.
Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were the top wicket-takers from 2017 till 2019. However, both their careers are at a crossroads. Kuldeep came back to cricket after undergoing knee surgery that kept him out of IPL 2021. Chahal has also undergone a dip in form although he did play the South Africa series.
