BCCI VP clarifies rumour of Virat-Rohit split captaincy, says 'There have been no talks'

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice-President Rajiv Shukla has cleared the air on reports claiming that Team India is looking to split the captaincy duties between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. A couple of speculative reports on Monday, September 13, suggested that the BCCI is planning to change Team India's limited-overs captain after the World Cup. The reports suggested that Rohit Sharma would be given India's white-ball captaincy, while Kohli would continue to lead the country in Test cricket. The reports claimed that the decision could be applied in order to give Kohli enough space to focus on his batting and Test captaincy. 

However, the senior BCCI official has now confirmed that no such move is being contemplated and that Kohli will continue to lead India in all three formats. Rajiv Shukla said it is important that the players focus on their preparations and asked them to not get distracted by these media reports. Shukla also urged the press to not spread rumours by predicting the future, saying "Let's focus on the upcoming T20 World Cup rather than playing soothsayer".  

"There is nothing to this rumour. Also, let's focus on the T20 World Cup rather playing soothsayer and predicting the future. There have been no talks on split captaincy," Shukla was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

T20 World Cup 2021

Meanwhile, the BCCI on Wednesday announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup with Virat Kohli as captain of the side. Indian opener Rohit Sharma has been named Kohli's deputy for the marquee ICC event. In a surprise announcement, the BCCI named MS Dhoni as the mentor of the side for the World Cup. This will be Dhoni's first association with Team India since his retirement in August 2020. The BCCI also stunned cricket enthusiasts in India by including Ravichandran Ashwin in the World Cup squad. 

There are also a couple of exclusions that made headlines after the squad was announced last week. The most notable exclusions are Shikhar Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal, both of whom have been performing extraordinarily for their respective IPL franchises. The T20 World Cup for India is scheduled to start on October 24 when it will face Pakistan in its opening match of the competition. 

India's squad for T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami.

Standby players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur.

Image: PTI/AP