Kohli Opt Out of South Africa ODI Series: Former Indian white-ball skipper Virat Kohli opt-out of the upcoming South African ODI series to be with his family for their daughter’s first birthday event.
Virat Kohli Opt Out of South Africa ODI Series
Vamika(Virat Kohli’s daughter) was born on January 11 last year, and the India Test skipper is said to be planning a holiday with his family after the conclusion of the Test series. The final Test of the tour will be played from Jan 11 to 15. The ODI series will kick off on January 19.
“Virat Kohli had informed the BCCI in advance that he would take a break in early January. Since the ODI Series coincides with the first birthday of his daughter, Kohli had communicated that he could not participate in ODI Series against South Africa.” – According to TOI
Once the news starts to spread Virat fans start to come up with many conspiracy theories. Many claim that Virat Kohli opted out of the series owing to his removal from the ODI captain role.
BCCI Official Answers
Right after this, a BCCI official cleared the air with the report to News9. “Virat Kohli has informed us that he will not be available for the ODI series – he wants to spend time with family as he was in playing for many months with IPL, T20 WC – don’t read social media rumours, there is nothing between Rohit & Kohli”, BCCI official told.
ODI Captaincy Change
The change in India’s ODI captaincy had shaken the Indian cricketing fraternity to the core. More than the role change that took place, it was the manner in which the responsibility was taken away from Kohli and handed to Rohit that rose eyebrows.
In a single tweet, the BCCI announced that Rohit was appointed India’s white-ball captain across formats. Neither a statement from the BCCI explaining the change nor a reaction from the board president, Sourav Ganguly, departing skipper Kohli, or even the newly-appointed captain Rohit was present.
It was only a couple of days later that Ganguly explained the change, saying the team couldn’t have had two different white-ball skippers. Dada even said that he had urged Kohli not to relinquish T20I captaincy but the talismanic batter was determined to step down.
Notably, both Virat and Rohit Sharma are likely to miss playing together as Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the SA test series owing to an injury. On the other hand, Rohit is expected to lead the ODI series where Virat opt-out.
