Focus On T20 World Cup, Not On Captaincy Rumours: BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice-President Rajeev Shukla is not impressed by the latest rumours of Team India looking at a change of captain in the limited-overs format after the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman.

Reports have been doing the rounds that Rohit Sharma could take over at the end of the showpiece event and Kohli could continue as the Test captain and focus on his batting.
Speaking to ANI, Shukla said while there is no truth to this rumour, it is important the team focuses on the showpieces event rather than getting distracted by such news.

“There is nothing to this rumour. Also, let’s focus on the T20 World Cup rather than playing soothsayer and predicting the future. There have been no talks on split captaincy,” he said.

The Indian national selectors last Wednesday picked the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. There were inputs from Rohit as well as the deputy of the limited-overs team and that seems to have led to talks of split captaincy post the World Cup.

Coming back to the squad, in a surprise move, R Ashwin has been included in the team which will begin its campaign in the showpiece event against arch-rivals Pakistan. He had last played a T20I against West Indies in July 2017. Yuzvendra Chahal missed out as MS Dhoni will be the mentor of the team.

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has the hosting rights, the tournament has been moved out of the country with an eye on the COVID-19 pandemic. India and Pakistan will be locking horns on October 24 in a group-stage encounter. The tournament will get underway from October 17, with the final to be played in Dubai on November 14. (ANI)