Kohli’s fate as ODI skipper set to be decided in next few days as SA squad to be named this week

The BCCI top brass have said that India’s tour of South Africa remains on schedule, though they’re keeping a close watch on the situation surrounding the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant in that country.

While 2022 will primarily be dominated by T20Is due to another global event in Australia, there are only nine ODIs as of now in the next seven months with six (three each in South Africa and England) abroad and three in India. Since there will be one bio-bubble, a jumbo squad is again expected to be selected across formats.

The squad strength could be anything between 20 to 23, taking all formats into account. There are currently two schools of thought in the BCCI. One that believes that Kohli could be allowed to continue as there are only a few ODIs left.

The other thought process is about not having two white ball skippers and giving Rohit enough time to prepare a potent team that could be serious title contenders for 2023 ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in India.

It is understood that there are strong arguments for both theories but the final call on Kohli’s fate as ODI skipper will be taken by president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah. Kohli’s inability to win any major multi-team event holds against him keeping the captaincy but his overall record has been more than decent in this format.

“The Indian squad will be announced in the next few days time. We will have everything ready from our end and then wait for the government’s nod. If the government tell us to abort the trip, then we would, but we need to keep the squad selected and ready,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.

During this week, there is BCCI’s AGM on Saturday in Kolkata, where Chetan and company’s renewal of tenure as per norms is a part of the agenda.

Length of the series

It has been learnt that as of now BCCI and Cricket South Africa are committed to playing a full series unless there is any specific advice from the Indian government against touring the Rainbow Nation.

However, there are some talk in the periphery about the three-Test series being curtailed by a match.

“We will know in a few days’ time if the series would become a two-Test affair rather than three but there has been some back and forth discussions,” a local commentator said on air on YouTube while calling the India ‘A’ vs South Africa ‘A’ second ‘Test’ in Bloemfontein.