Virat Kohli T20I captaincy: The Indian captain is leading the national team for the last time in the shortest format tonight.
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During the 42nd match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 between India and Namibia in Dubai, India captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and chose to field. With the four semi-finalists already confirmed for this World Cup, the last Super 12 match is a dead-rubber.
“We’ll bowl first. The tosses have been a big factor, and when I’ve won a couple we’ll do what we wanted to do from Day 1. Rahul Chahar comes in for Varun Chakravarthy for today’s game,” Kohli said at the toss.
And @imVkohli wins the toss again! Come on! Why not in the first two. Sport for you.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) November 8, 2021
Readers must note that Kohli has really struggled with the coin toss lately. Needing to win the first toss in the first two matches against Pakistan and New Zealand to negate a due-related disadvantage at the same venue, luck hadn’t favoured the Indian skipper.
Virat Kohli talks about creating space for others in last T20I as captain
It was before the start of the second phase of Indian Premier League 2021 that Kohli had announced himself stepping down as India’s T20I captain. Leading India for the last time in the shortest format at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium tonight, Kohli talked about “creating space” for others.
“It’s been an honour for me. I was given the opportunity and I tried to do my best. But it’s also time to create some space and move forward. I’ve been immensely proud of how the team has played. Now I think it’s time for the next lot to stake this team forward. Obviously Rohit [Sharma] is here and he’s overlooking things for a while now,” Kohli said.
ALSO READ: List of Virat Kohli T20I captaincy records
While the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) are yet to name a new T20I captain, current white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma should be an automatic choice for the job. India, who are scheduled to play a three-match T20I series against New Zealand later this month, might play the same under a new captain as all the multi-format players are expected to be rested for the home series.
Kohli, who is playing his 50th match as India’s T20I captain tonight, has scored 1,570 runs in 46 innings at an average and strike rate of 47.57 and 140.55 respectively including 13 half-centuries.
