BCCI on Wednesday announced that Rohit Sharma will be India’s ODI and T20I captain. The opening batter, who captained India in the T20Is against New Zealand, will now take up the full-time responsibility as India’s captain in limited-overs cricket. Rohit will take over from Virat Kohli in the 50-over format, from the three-match ODI series in South Africa. Kohli will continue to lead India in red-ball cricket.
One of the main reasons behind Kohli’s sacking as an ODI captain is he failed to guide India to an ICC title. Under Virat Kohli’s ODI captaincy, the Indian team won several historic bilateral series which makes him one of the most successful ODI captains in Indian history. He led India to the final of ICC Champions Trophy 2017. India reached the semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2019.
Virat Kohli’s ODI captaincy in numbers
1. Under Kohli’s captaincy, India played 19 series, won 15, and lost 4. Out of 95 matches, India won 65 matches, lost in 27, with a winning percentage of 70.43
2. Kohli has the best winning percentage as India’s ODI captain (70.43%). Notably, he has the best winning percentage of any other Indian captain who led the side in more than 10 matches.
3. As ODI captain, Kohli scored 5449 runs in 95 matches, averaging 72.65, including 21 centuries.
4. Under Kohli’s leadership, India won only one multi-nation tournament – the Tri-Nation series in West Indies in 2013.
4. Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, India won bilateral ODI series away from home in Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, and Zimbabwe.
5. Virat Kohli scored 3010 runs as captain in chases for India. He averaged 83.61 with a strike rate of 97.68, including 13 hundreds and 12 fifties.
6. Kohli has the best average (72.65) for ODI captains (lead in a minimum of 75 matches) in the history of ODI cricket. AB de Villiers has the next best average 63.94 in 103 matches.
7. In the history of ODI cricket, only 3 captains – Clive Lloyd, Ricky Ponting, and Hansie Cronje have a better win percentage than Kohli.
| Matches as captain | Played | Won | Lost |
| Overall | 95 | 65 | 27 |
| At Home | 35 | 24 | 10 |
| Away | 42 | 29 | 11 |
| SERIES AS CAPTAIN | PLAYED | WON | LOST |
| OVERALL | 19 | 15 | 4 |
| AT HOME | 9 | 8 | 1 |