Rohit Sharma to captain India during New Zealand T20I series

Virat Kohli announced ahead of the T20 World Cup that it would be his last hurrah as leader of the national side in the shortest format

India have named Rohit Sharma as captain for the T20I series against New Zealand that immediately follows the conclusion of the T20 World Cup.

Rohit, who has captained Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, replaces Virat Kohli in the role.

Kohli announced ahead of the tournament, which saw India fail to get beyond the group stage, that it would be his last in charge of the national side in the shortest format.

The 32-year-old cited the need to “give myself space” in order to continue his duties as Test and ODI captain to the fullest of his abilities, a point he reaffirmed ahead of his final match at the helm against Namibia.

“It’s been an honour for me,” he said at the toss ahead of an emphatic nine-wicket win. “I was given the opportunity and I tried to do my best. It's also time for me to create some space and prioritise things moving forward and unfortunately, the shortest format of the game has to give way to the longer formats.

“This was the right time for me to manage my workload. It’s been six, seven years of intense cricket every time we take the field and it takes a lot out of you.”

Kohli, who isn’t in India’s squad for the New Zealand series, and outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri both tipped Rohit to take over, with Shastri describing Kohli’s vice-captain as “ready in the wings”.

Rahul Dravid will replace Shastri at the helm. He was seen as a natural fit for the position, having taken charge of India’s white-ball tour of Sri Lanka in July while Shastri led the Test side in England. Under Dravid, India recorded a 2-1 win in the ODI series but were beaten 2-1 in the T20Is.

The 48-year-old has previously coached India Under-19, with whom he won the Under-19 World Cup in 2018, and India A. He was also appointed director of the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in 2019, where he implemented new injury management systems and nationwide coaching programmes.

The BCCI have also named an India A squad to tour South Africa, which includes fast bowlers Navdeep Saini and Umran Malik, the latter of whom has played just nine professional games but was clocked at 95mph during the Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Alongside Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja have also been rested for the New Zealand series.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj

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