“A leader who led with grit, passion and determination” - BCCI posts appreciation tweet for Virat Kohli

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday shared a tweet appreciating Virat Kohli’s contribution as one-day captain of the Indian cricket team.

On Wednesday, the Indian selectors named Rohit Sharma as the new captain of the ODI team, replacing Kohli. The latter had earlier stepped down from the post of T20I skipper as well, which means he will now only lead in the longer format of the game.

Sharing a post on their official Twitter handle, BCCI thanked Kohli for leading the team with passion. The cricket board’s tweet read:

“A leader who led the side with grit, passion & determination. Thank you Captain @imVkohli! #TeamIndia.”

Taking over the ODI leadership from MS Dhoni in 2017, Kohli captained India in 95 matches of which the team won 65 and lost 27. The 33-year-old finished his one-day stint as leader with an impressive win percentage of 70.43.

Although India failed to win an ICC trophy under Kohli’s tenure, he captained the side to bilateral wins in 15 out of 19 series.

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“A call BCCI and selectors took together” - Sourav Ganguly on Kohli being replaced as ODI captain

Opening up on the decision to hand over the ODI captaincy to Rohit, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly revealed that that call was taken by the cricket board and the selectors. Ganguly revealed that BCCI had requested Kohli not to resign as T20 captain. Speaking to ANI, Ganguly said:

"Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats. So it was decided that Virat will continue as Test captain and Rohit will take over as the white-ball captain. I, as president, personally spoke to Virat Kohli and the chairman of selectors has also spoken to him.”

Thanking Kohli for his contributions as captain in white-ball cricket, Ganguly added the BCCI is confident of Rohit doing a good job as a leader. The former India skipper asserted:

"We have full faith in Rohit Sharma's leadership abilities and Virat will continue as the Test captain. We, as BCCI, are confident that Indian cricket is in good hands. We thank Virat Kohli for his contributions as captain in the white-ball format.”

While Kohli will lead the Indian team during the three-match Test series in South Africa, Rohit Sharma will take over the reins for the three ODIs to be played as part of the same tour.