After kickstarting the tour of South Africa with a magnificent century on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test, KL Rahul could now also earn his first chance to lead the country in ODIs against the Proteas in early January. He will be leading India in the three-match ODI series in case the newly-appointed India white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma fails to recover from his hamstring injury.
Rohit, also appointed India’s Test vice-captain – succeeding Ajinkya Rahane after a period of great extended form with the bat – had to skip the flight to South Africa for the Test series after it emerged that he has sustained a left hamstring injury.
His untimely injury came during a net session in Mumbai ahead of the Virat Kohli-led Test squad’s departure for the rainbow nation. But while the experienced opening batter was ruled out of the three-Test series, it was expected that he would recover in time to be part of the ODI leg of the tour.
However, according to a report by Sports Today, Rohit may not be able to complete his rehab in time for the ODI squad selection and departure this week. Initially, it was felt the hamstring niggle – the BCCI had confirmed it was not a tear – would take around three-four weeks to overcome. But now, it has emerged that Rohit would need an extra couple of weeks to completely heal at the NCA in Bangalore.
If the Indian captain is unable to board the flight to South Africa for what was due to be his first assignment as full-time ODI captain, the onus will be on Rahul to stand up to the task. Appointed India’s T20I vice-captain ahead of the series against New Zealand in November, Rahul also looks set to be made deputy to Rohit in the ODI format.
The captaincy shuffle in Indian cricket began after the T20 World Cup, which Kohli had pre-confirmed is set to be his last T20I assignment as skipper. Soon thereafter, the board controversially removed him from the ODI captaincy post as well, handing Rohit the leadership reign for both the white-ball formats.
