Virat Kohli to opt out of ODI series vs South Africa: Reports

Virat Kohli is set to opt out of the One-Day International (ODI) series against South Africa, while Rohit Sharma is on course to recover from his hamstring injury ahead of the three ODIs, according to a report on NDTV.

It is believed that Kohli wants to spend time with his family and wants to be around for his daughter's first birthday in January.

The BCCI had announced on Monday (December 13) that Rohit will miss the Test series after he sustained a hamstring injury during practice. However, he is set to lead India in the ODI series, which will be his first as full-time skipper.

Priyank Panchal was named Rohit's replacement for the Test series. "Priyank Panchal replaces injured Rohit Sharma in India's Test squad. Rohit sustained a left hamstring injury during his training session here in Mumbai yesterday. He has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match Test series against South Africa," a BCCI tweet stated.

Rohit will take about a month to recover. While the Test series kick starts from December 26 at Centurion, the ODI series will commence from January 19 at Boland Park in Paarl.

Rohit took charge of the Indian side for the T20Is against New Zealand at home, marking the beginning of a new era for India after Kohli had resigned as captain in the shortest format.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had stated that he had requested Kohli not to step down as India's T20I captain, but he had already made up his mind.

"We had requested Virat not to step down as T20 captain but he didn't want to continue as captain. So, the selectors felt that they cannot have two white ball captains in two white-ball formats. That's too much of leadership," Ganguly had said.

As a result, the BCCI, while announcing the Test squad for the South Africa tour had also named Rohit as India's T20I and ODI captain going forward.