Kohli named captain for all three formats

Indian cricket entered a new era as Virat Kohli was anointed the captain for all three formats of the game here on Friday.

Kohli, who has been captain of the Test team for nearly two years, took over the leadership for the limited-overs series against England. Veterans Yuvraj Singh (both ODIs and T20Is) and Ashish Nehra (T20Is) will make their comeback to international cricket with this series.

While M S Dhoni, after more than nine years at the helm, will play as keeper-batsman, the national selection committee under M S K Prasad’s chairmanship named rookie Delhi keeper Rishabh Pant in the T20I squad, giving an indication as to whom they consider as Dhoni’s successor.

Karnataka duo of K L Rahul and middle-order batsman Manish Pandey were included in both ODI and T20I squads, while their team mate Karun Nair, the triple centurion in the Chennai Test against England, was surprisingly left out of both teams.In other notable omission, Ajinkya Rahane has been dropped from the T20I team and Pant replaces him as a batsman.

The selection committee meeting had its share of drama and was delayed by three hours on technical grounds before a go ahead from the Lodha panel set the proceedings rolling.