Indian playing XI from Virat Kohli's last ODI match as captain - Where are they now?
Virat Kohli lost his ODI captaincy to Rohit Sharma earlier this week. The BCCI made the big announcement while unveiling India's Test squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
According to reports, Virat Kohli was not informed beforehand about the announcement. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly revealed that the team management had previously asked Virat not to step down as T20I captain because the administrators and the selectors wanted only one white-ball captain.
However, Kohli relinquished the post of India's T20I captain and soon lost his captaincy position in the 50-over format. Fans should note that the Indian team has not played ODI cricket regularly in 2021.
The Men in Blue's last ODI series was against Sri Lanka, but Virat Kohli did not play in it. Kohli's last series as ODI captain was against England in Pune in March 2021, which India won by 2-1.
On that note, we will look at the Indian playing XI from the last match of that series and where those players are now.
Openers - Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan
The third ODI of the India vs England series took place on March 28, 2021 at the MCA Stadium. England won the toss and invited the home side to bat first. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided a solid start to the team, adding 103 runs for the first wicket.
Sharma scored a 37-ball 37, while Dhawan aggregated 67 runs off 56 deliveries. Both players are still regular members of the ODI team. Rohit has now become the new captain in ODIs.
Middle Order - Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul
Rishabh Pant was the top-scorer in Virat Kohli's last match as the Indian ODI captain. The southpaw smacked a 62-ball 78, hitting five fours and four sixes.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul failed to get going in the game, with the two batters scoring seven runs each. Kohli lost his stumps to Moeen Ali, while Liam Livingstone dismissed KL Rahul.
All three batters are regular members of the Indian team in all three formats. Virat Kohli is still the skipper in Tests. KL Rahul is now the vice-captain of the T20I team.
All Rounders - Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Shardul Thakur
Hardik Pandya blasted a 44-ball 64 against England in that match. His power-packed performance helped India post a 329-run total on the board. Hardik's brother Krunal scored 25 runs off 34 deliveries, while Shardul Thakur played a decent cameo of 30 runs.
The three all-rounders bowled a total of 23 overs in the match. Thakur was the only one who could take a wicket. The right-arm pacer had four scalps in his 10-over spell.
Hardik and Krunal have lost their place in the T20I squad. According to reports, Hardik has asked for some time off from the selectors so that he can focus on his bowling. Thakur, meanwhile, was not selected for the home series against New Zealand recently but has been picked for the South Africa Test series.
Bowlers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna and T Natarajan
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna and T Natarajan were the three pacers in the Indian playing XI for that game. Kumar bowled an excellent spell of 3/42, while Krishna remained wicketless in his seven overs.
Natarajan returned with figures of 1/73. The left-arm pacer successfully defended 14 runs off the last six deliveries to help India win.
Interestingly, Natarajan and Krishna have not played an international match since that series. Meanwhile, Kumar has been a regular member of India's ODI and T20I squads.