Rohit Sharma will captain India in both white-ball formats, the BCCI said on Wednesday, as it named the Test squad for this month’s South Africa tour.

Known as “The Hitman” because of his powerful hundreds and six-hitting, Sharma took over the T20I side in November after India’s dismal showing at the World Cup in Dubai and led a series sweep at home against New Zealand.

The 34-year-old replaced Virat Kohli, who stepped down as T20I skipper in September citing his “immense workload”. Kohli now no longer be the ODI skipper either.

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Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and ODI captaincy: If no one else, Indian cricket fans deserve to know why

The decision comes as a surprise to many because Kohli has been immense for India in ODIs – both as a batter and as skipper. As a batter, he has averaged 72.65 since taking over as captain and he had a winning percentage of 70.43 – a number bested only by Ricky Ponting (76.14) and Hansie Cronje (73.70).

But while his numbers are great, perhaps his inability to win an ICC Trophy counted against him. There are various theories about why he got the sack but there has been no official word from the BCCI.

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The selectors have not explained their reasoning and for now, we don’t even know whether Kohli willingly stepped down or whether the BCCI thought Sharma could do even better.

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Kohli's numbers in ODIs

Span Mat Runs HS Avg SR 100s 50s
as captain 2013-2021 95 5449 160* 72.65 98.28 21 27
as not captain 2008-2016 159 6720 183 51.29 89.39 22 35
Courtesy ESPNcricinfo

Best batting average in ODIs as captain

Player Matches Inns NO Runs HS   100s 50s Avg
Kohli, V* 95 91  16  5449  160* 21  27  72.65 
de Villiers, A B 103 98  23  4796  162* 13  27  63.95 
Dhoni, M S 200 172  48  6641  139* 47  53.56 
Williamson, K S* 78 76  3446  148 22  49.23 
Mathews, A D* 106 93  22  3264  139* 22  45.97
Courtesy HowStat

No other skipper in world cricket currently boasts of a record as good as that of Kohli, who also led India in three white-ball ICC tournaments.

In the 2017 Champions Trophy, India reached the final where they lost to Pakistan.

In the 2019 World Cup, India ran out of luck at the semi-final stage as New Zealand, who were underdogs for the match, beat them convincingly.

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In the 2021 T20 World Cup, India failed to get out of the Super 12 stage. They started the tournament poorly with losses to Pakistan and New Zealand and that proved to be their downfall.

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Most matches as ODI captain

Player Mat Won Lost Tied NR %
RT Ponting (AUS/ICC) 230 165 51 2 12 76.14
SP Fleming (NZ) 218 98 106 1 13 48.04
MS Dhoni (INDIA) 200 110 74 5 11 59.52
A Ranatunga (SL) 193 89 95 1 8 48.37
AR Border (AUS) 178 107 67 1 3 61.42
M Azharuddin (INDIA) 174 90 76 2 6 54.16
GC Smith (Afr/SA) 150 92 51 1 6 64.23
SC Ganguly (Asia/INDIA) 147 76 66 0 5 53.52
Imran Khan (PAK) 139 75 59 1 4 55.92
WJ Cronje (SA) 138 99 35 1 3 73.70
DPMD Jayawardene (Asia/SL) 129 71 49 1 8 59.09
BC Lara (WI) 125 59 59 0 7 50.00
EJG Morgan (ENG) 124 74 40 2 8 64.65
ST Jayasuriya (SL) 118 66 47 2 3 58.26
WTS Porterfield (IRE) 113 50 55 2 6 47.66
Wasim Akram (PAK) 109 66 41 2 0 61.46
AD Mathews (SL) 106 49 51 1 5 49.00
SR Waugh (AUS) 106 67 35 3 1 65.23
IVA Richards (WI) 105 67 36 0 2 65.04
AB de Villiers (SA) 103 59 39 1 4 60.10
SM Pollock (Afr/ICC/SA) 97 60 33 3 1 64.06
V Kohli (INDIA) 95 65 27 1 2 70.43
Courtesy ESPNcricinfo

A look at some of India’s most successful captains in ODIs reveals that Kohli’s winning percentage is way higher than others in the mix.

But the big difference is that Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni managed to win World Cups for India.

India's captains in ODIs

Player Mat Won Lost Tied NR %
MS Dhoni 200 110 74 5 11 59.52
M Azharuddin 174 90 76 2 6 54.16
SC Ganguly 147 76 66 0 5 53.52
V Kohli 95 65 27 1 2 70.43
R Dravid 79 42 33 0 4 56.00
N Kapil Dev 74 39 33 0 2 54.16
SR Tendulkar 73 23 43 1 6 35.07
SM Gavaskar 37 14 21 0 2 40.00
* 30 or more matches as captain. ** Ganguly's tally also includes matches as Asia captain.

There have been some iffy selections but that can’t be attributed to Kohli alone. If anything, the selection committees would have to take equal blame.

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Kohli hasn’t had the greatest luck with the toss in recent times. In fact, in the 95 ODIs that he was the captain, he won the toss on 40 occasions. It usually doesn’t have a huge impact but when dew comes into the picture, it can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Either way, all of the above numbers show that Sharma has a tough act to follow. Kohli has set the bar high as batter and skipper and the only way to top it would be to win an ICC Trophy. The goal, whether Sharma likes it or not, has already been set.