New Delhi (TIP): Virat Kohli was on Dec 8 removed as India’s ODI captain and Rohit Sharma has been made the sole white-ball leader of the team until the 2023 50-over World Cup.

Rohit had been appointed the T20I team captain in November after Kohli had stepped down from the role at the end of the T20 World Cup. In another significant development, Ajinkya Rahane was removed from Test vice-captaincy, a position which was also given to Rohit.

The BCCI announced the 18-member squad for the three-Test series for the tour of South Africa, and it doesn’t include all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, spinner Axar Patel and opener Shubman Gill due to various injuries.

Hanuma Vihari has made a comeback in the main squad while Ishant Sharma has been able to retain his place despite poor form. “One of the reasons for Rahane being able to keep his place is the fact that even Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli are not scoring runs for a long time,” a senior BCCI official said.

Test squad

Virat Kohli (capt),Rohit Sharma (v-c), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla

                Source: PTI