Virat Kohli To Skip ODI Series

The clouds of trouble are not dissipating over the Indian team after Rohit Sharma’s hamstring injury caused him to rule out of the forthcoming three-match Test series against South Africa on Monday, Whereas Virat Kohli has reportedly chosen to pull out of the ODI series against the Proteas.

India are prepared to tour South Africa later this month for a three-match Test series followed by ODIs. While skipper Kohli will be driving the team in Tests, while newly-appointed white-ball captain Rohit will lead in the ODI series.

The series will be played from January 19 to 23 and will be led up by a three-match Test series in which Kohli is presently scheduled to captain the Indian team.

While the BCCI is yet to make an official announcement about Kohli’s involvement in the ODI series, according to the reports that the 33-year-old will be seating out due to “personal reasons”. Kohli has not played an ODI since March 28 this year.

Kohli had stepped down as T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup but remarked his will to resume as ODI skipper. Regardless, the BCCI disclosed on December 8 that Rohit had been designated captain of the Indian ODI and T20I formats and superseded Ajinkya Rahane as India’s limited-overs captain.

On Monday, the BCCI informed that Rohit Sharma had been pulled out of the Test series with batter Priyank Panchal, who was a member of India A tour earlier this month, called up as his replacement.

“Priyank Panchal replaces injured Rohit Sharma in India’s Test squad. Rohit sustained a left hamstring injury during his training session here in Mumbai yesterday. He has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match Test series against South Africa,” a BCCI tweet stated.