On Wednesday, the BCCI removed Virat Kohli from the post of India’s ODI team captaincy post and handed over the reins to Rohit Sharma. Kohli had already left the T20 captaincy. The Cricket Board of India (BCCI) waited for the last 48 hours for Captain Virat Kohli to voluntarily step down from the captaincy of the ODI team but he did not do so. So, BCCI decided and declare that Rohit Sharma will be the new ODI Captain.

Kohli’s dismissal was not even mentioned in the BCCI statement. BCCI only tweet, “The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward. #TeamIndia | @ImRo45

With this tweet of BCCI, Kohli’s near five-year-long limited-over captaincy tenure has come to an end.

Rohit took over as India’s T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup, guided India to a 3-0 victory over New Zealand in the just-finished three-match T20I series. With Kohli having already stepped down as India’s T20I captain, it was only a matter of time until Rohit assumed command of the limited-overs side. He was also titled India’s vice-captain in Tests, serving as Kohli’s deputy and succeeding an out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane.

Rohit has less than a year to prepare for the T20 World Cup, which will be held in Australia next year, and the 50-over World Cup, which will be held in India in 2023. The two next ICC events offer to be the biggest challenge for Team India since the Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid combo took over.

The captaincy period of Kohli has been a wonderful story in itself. The ‘cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni groomed Kohli under his leadership and then when he felt that the time had come, he handed over the responsibility of the white ball to him. In the next two years, Kohli became the mighty captain of the team who would do things on his own terms.