Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock, the two deposed leaders, might play key roles in the three-match one-day international series between South Africa and India, which begins on Wednesday at Boland Park in Paarl.
Both former captains have the ability to lead their respective teams’ battering attacks.
It would be Kohli’s first ODI series since Indian selection picked Rohit Sharma as captain in December.
Despite the fact that Sharma was forced to retire from the South Africa series due to injury, Kohli’s captaincy was given to KL Rahul.
Kohli, who led India to a 65-27 win-loss record in 95 one-day internationals, stated after India’s Test series setback last week that he could only comment about the next one-day games “from a player’s point of view.”
Kohli, who subsequently stepped down from the Test captaincy, said: “You are obviously very driven and motivated to perform in any match you play for India. As an individual, I can definitely say that I am looking forward to the ODI series and I am driven to perform in those ODI games.”
De Kock was made South Africa’s long-term white-ball captain in February 2020 and was made Test captain for four matches last season. But he did not seem comfortable in the role and a decision was made last March to put Temba Bavuma in charge of the white-ball teams, with Dean Elgar taking over as Test captain.
De Kock, who had previously been ruled out of the last two Tests against India owing to paternity leave, declared his retirement from Test cricket after the first Test last month, but he remained available for limited-overs matches.
De Kock returns to action for the first time after becoming a father to a baby daughter in this series. In his final Test match, he was dismissed due to two mediocre shots, and South Africa will be looking for a return to the free-flowing, motivated batsman who smashed three hundred in a row against India eight seasons ago.
The series is not part of the International Cricket Council’s World Cup Super League but South Africa, in particular, will be keen to record their first one-day series win since beating Australia 3-0 in March 2020 before cricket was effectively shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.
