Rohit Sharma takes over from Virat Kohli as India T20 captain for New Zealand series
10 November, 2021
Rohit Sharma was named the new captain of India's T20 side, replacing Virat Kohli, the cricket board announced on Tuesday after the side crashed out of the World Cup.
Rohit, 34, was named the T20 captain as the Indian board announced the squad for the upcoming tour by New Zealand.
Kohli, who took over T20I captaincy in 2017, had announced his decision to step down in September, citing his "immense workload". He remains the skipper of the one-day and Test teams.
The announcement follows news that former batting legend Rahul Dravid was replacing Ravi Shastri as coach for all formats following the World Cup, where India failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
Rohit has tasted immense success as a white-ball captain, leading Mumbai Indian to five IPL titles and also guiding India to wins in the 2018 Asia Cup and Nidahas trophy - both multi-team tournaments - as stand-in leader.
Kohli was not named in the T20 squad for the New Zealand series to give the batsman time to rest. Also left out were pace bowlers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah as well as bowling all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
The tour by New Zealand begins on November 17 with three T20 games followed by two Test matches.
India faced sharp criticism at home over their dismal performance in the T20 World Cup, including their humiliating defeat at the hands of arch-rival Pakistan as well as New Zealand.
But Shastri, after his last game in charge after five years, said that the current team was "one of the great cricket teams in the history of the game".
"We might not have won this World Cup, but I think going forward we'll continue to have a strong team because the IPL throws a lot of young players into the mix. Rahul [Dravid] will have his own ideas on how to take this team forward," Shastri said.
Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel, and Avesh Khan - all of whom had an impressive IPL 2021 - were named in the T20 squad.
The three T20s will be played in Jaipur (November 17), Ranchi (November 19) and Kolkata (November 21). It will be followed by two Tests - Kanpur (November 25-29) and Mumbai (December 3-7).
India T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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