Ashish Ranjan
Especially after the Men in Blue’s disappointing performance in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final, the Indian cricket team’s supporters have been anticipating Virat Kohli’s return as Test team captain. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has categorically dismissed all rumors that Kohli will once again command the national team.
Indian cricket fans on social media have advocated for Ravichandran Ashwin or Virat to replace Rohit Sharma as captain in the longest format of the game. However, as Chopra stated, after Kohli himself stepped down as Test captain, it is unlikely that the 34-year-old will return for the new WTC cycle as captain.
Chopra believes that the BCCI will not re-appoint Virat Kohli as captain.
“He can be convinced, but he won’t be, and perhaps that’s for the best because no one asked him to step down as Test captain. This has been clarified numerous times from various sources that no one said he wouldn’t remain the Test captain, the former Indian Test opener stated on YouTube.
Virat resigned as India’s Test captain following the team’s 2-1 loss to South Africa in the 2022 Test series. Under Kohli’s stewardship, India won 40 of 68 Test matches. He was undoubtedly one of the most successful Indian Test captains. Later on, however, Kohli’s captaincy saga appeared to be a disagreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
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“When he announced that he would no longer serve as captain, the BCCI was a little taken aback by the reality that they would have to seek for a replacement. So, that was a marginally different situation, but no longer,” Chopra continued.
All of these discussions on Test captaincy are a result of team India’s loss in the WTC 2023 final against Australia, in which Pat Cummins’ side defeated the Asian side by 209 runs; it will be interesting to see how things play out in the future, as Rohit will be seen leading the team in whites for the West Indies tour.
