India captain Virat Kohli on Monday all but confirmed Rohit Sharma as his successor to lead the national team in the T20 format, saying his deputy is "overlooking things for a while now". Kohli won the toss in his final game as India's T20 captain. The 2007 champions, who have failed to make the semifinals, bowl first against Namibia in their final Super 12 match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Dubai, UAE.
"We'll bowl first again. The tosses have been a big factor here so when I've won a couple, it's worth doing what we wanted to do from the start," Kohli said.
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Rohit, who is Kohli's deputy in the white-ball format, is tipped to take over India's T20 leadership from the three-match series against New Zealand at home, beginning November 19.
"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 added.
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Kohli had announced his decision to give up T20 captaincy before the T20 World Cup. He has also stepped down as captain of his Indian Premier League (IPL), franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Speculation is rife that the superstar batter might also lose the ODI leadership role in the near future.
Ravi Shashtri is also donning the head coach's hat for the last time. The BCCI has already named Rahul Dravid as Shashtri's successor.
Both India and Namibia made one change from their previous match playing XI. For India, Rahul Chahar replaced Varun Chakravarthy while Jan Frylinck came in for Karl Birkenstock in the Namibian team.
Playing XIs:
India: Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (c), Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Zane Green (wk), David Wiese, Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz.
