The national selectors sacked Virat Kohli and handed the ODI captaincy to Rohit Sharma
Ben Stokes took a break from the game in July and set out for a few months
Rahul David's appointment as Team India's head coach was one of the biggest news of 2021
The year 2021 has been a memorable one for cricketing fans across the globe. From witnessing the final of the World Test Championship to T20 World Cup 2021, the fans were treated with cricketing action throughout the year. The COVID-19 did make an impact on the game, but the cricketing boards successfully bounced back to stage fixtures.
Apart from COVID-19 impacting the game, there were many more updates coming out from various cricketing nations. From Virat Kohli's sacking to Ben Stokes' break from the game, here's a look at top 10 news which left the fans talking in 2021 -
Virat Kohli's sacking
This was probably the biggest news coming out of Indian cricket in 2021. 90 minutes before the selection for the South Africa tour, Kohl was told about being removed as the ODI captain. He had relinquished the T20I captaincy in September and a couple of months later, the selectors decided to have one white-ball captain. Kohl continues to hold the top job in Test cricket and is always available for selection in Odis and T20Is.
Ben Stokes takes a break from the game
A few days before the start of the much-awaited Test series against India, England were hit with a big blow when Ben Stokes withdrew from the Test series. The star all-rounder took an indefinite break from the game for his mental well-being and heal his finger during this period.
Stokes missed a number of matches and also decided to skip the 2nd phase of IPA 2021, which was played before the T20 World Cup 2021. He made his comeback in the ongoing Ashes series.
Rahul David's appointment as Team India's head coach
Rahul David's appointment was another major news which came out of Indian cricket. As per BCC president Sour av Gangly, David was reluctant to take up the job at first and the board had to work hard to rope in the ICC Hall of Famer.
David, probably the most high-profile coach in international cricket at present, replaced Ravi Shari after the T20 WC 2021. Under him, India made a winning start and defeated New Zealand in T20I and Test series. The team will now aim to register the first-ever Test series win in South Africa.
Virat Kohli contradicting BCI president
Another news from Indian cricket that made headlines was Kohl contradicting BCI president Sour av Gangly during a presser before departing to South Africa. During an interview, Gangly had claimed that he had requested Kohl not to step down as T20I captain. However, Kohl said that no such request was made.
"When I communicated with the BCI first about quitting T20I captaincy, I told them that this is my point of view, these are the reasons for my decision, it was received quite well. No one took offense, no one had any hesitation. No one told me that I should not leave the T20I captaincy," Kohl said.
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