Virat's ODI captaincy, Ishant's place in Test up for discussion

Mumbai: Virat Kohli's position as India's ODI captain, his Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane's future as vice-captain in the longest format along with 100-Test man Ishant Sharma's place will be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the jumbo squad for the tour of South Africa later this week.

Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma, Abey Kuruvilla and Sunil Joshi are here watching the Mumbai Test and sometime during this week, they will sit alongside president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to take a few decisions which might have far-reaching impact in the larger context of Indian cricket. India supposed to play three ODIs in South Africa and the biggest question now is whether the country needs two white ball captains which can potentially lead to clash of ideas. Rohit Sharma is already the T20 captain and with the blue riband 2023 50-over World Cup not far off, there are louder voices in the BCCI corridors to have one white ball captain -- and that is Rohit. However, Rahane will find it very difficult to keep his position as Kohli's Test deputy as he no longer is an automatic choice in the playing XI. Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari are some of the middle-order choices to replace Rahane in the eleven.

Ishant Sharma has gone off the boil since the tour of England and many people believe that the veteran of 105 Tests (311 wickets) should now be given a break as Mohammed Siraj can't be kept out in overseas conditions along with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.