Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria claims India’s tour of South Africa will be the last chance for Virat Kohli to prove himself as a captain after being removed from the ODI captaincy role.
India left for South Africa on Thursday where they will play a series of 3 Tests and 3 ODIs from December 19. Kohli will lead the Test team while Rohit Sharma, if declared fit, will captain the ODI side from January 19.
Post the unsuccessful T20 World Cup 2021 campaign Virat Kohli has stepped down from the T20I captaincy role. Notably, Virat announces that he will not lead RCB in IPL 2022 when the UAE leg of IPL 2021 kickstarted.
In this situation, BCCI announced Rohit Sharma as the ODI skipper for the upcoming South Africa tour.
Though BCCI President Sourav Ganguly explains the exact reason for Rohit Sharma’s appointment as ODI skipper, many fans believe that BCCI should considered Virat’s captaincy records before taking the decision of changing the ODI captaincy role.
Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma expressed his displeasure over BCCI’s decision of stripping Virat Kohli from the ODI captaincy role.
Danish Kaneria Warns Virat Kohli
Kaneria feels the only way Kohli can shut up his critics is by scoring runs and making his team win the Test series, something which no other Indian side has done in the past in South Africa.
“For Virat Kohli, it’s a very big tour because India’s never won a [Test] series in South Africa. They’ve won in England and Australia but this time in South Africa, it will be Virat Kohli’s last chance as captain (to win a series in SA).
“He has got to score runs with the bat, he has got to make his team win, and he has to prove himself on the tour especially after the way the BCCI kicked him out (of the ODI captaincy),” said Kaneria on his YouTube channel.
Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against South Africa owing to a hamstring injury. The South Africa vs India test series is scheduled to kickstart from December 26, 2021.
