Rahul Dravid has taken over the Indian coaching staff from Ravi Shastri, after undergoing a reshuffle. Unlike the change in the captaincy of the white-ball team, the transition was seamless. Few have seized on the abruptness of the change, while others have welcomed it. In fact, Kohli, who stepped down as T20 captain, expressed a desire to lead the ODI team until the 2023 World Cup in India. The selection committee, however, was insistent on Rohit taking over.

It was inevitable, but nobody expected the move to be so quick, rather abrupt. The BCCI has revamped the limited-overs team ahead of the South Africa tour, which will see Kohli replaced as ODI captain by Rohit Sharma, one of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket. Having led the national side for more than 10 ODIs, Kohli leaves the leadership role with an exceptional win percentage of 70.43, the best in Indian ODI captaincy history. The Indian cricket team won 65 games out of 95 overall under Kohli’s captainship.

Dhoni relinquished the ODI captaincy to Kohli in 2017, and Kohli began his tenure with a 2-1 series win over England. Ultimately, Kohli collected 15 bilateral series victories. As India’s T20I captain, Kohli announced his resignation in September, citing his enormous workload behind the decision. He made the decision after a lot of contemplation and conversations with his close friends, including then-coach Ravi Shastri and white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma. As a result of the BCCI’s desire for clarity, Indian cricket was introduced to a split captaincy system. It was, however, the informal sacking of Kohli that had many fans fuming on social media.

Kohli said he was fully prepared to lead the team in the other two formats. ”Given my tremendous workload over the last 8-9 years playing all three formats and captaining for the last 5-6 years, I feel I need to take time off in order to be fully prepared to lead the Indian team in Tests and ODIs,” Kohli stated.