Picture Credit: ICC
A new era in Indian cricket recently kicked off after Virat Kohli stepped down as the captain of national side across all formats. Rohit Sharma has been announced as his successor in white-ball cricket and the first major ICC event assignment for Hitman will be to lead Men in Blue in upcoming T20 World Cup 2022, set to be played in Australia from October 16 to November 13.
CHECK OUT | Full schedule of T20 World Cup 2022
However, it seems like the world governing body of cricket, just like many fans in India, is still not over the fact that Kohli is not the national team's captain anymore. In one of the main posters shared by ICC for T20 World Cup 2022, it mostly featured the skippers of all big teams like Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Aaron Finch (Australia), Babar Azam (Pakistan) and Eoin Morgan (England)
But for India, it was Virat Kohli who got featured instead of Rohit Sharma, which certainly raised a few eyebrows.
While there were some other non-captains in the image as well like Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Andre Russell (West Indies) and Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), one could think that the organizers might have gone ahead with the huge brand image of Virat Kohli.
However, much to the shock of everyone, ICC did the same when they recently opened the ticket sales for the mega event. Usually, the faces of captains are used in such posters. But for tournament's biggest clash between India and Pakistan, the image of Virat Kohli was used instead of Rohit Sharma, alongside Babar Azam.
ALSO READ | India vs Pakistan match tickets sold out within minutes after going live
Surprisingly, even for the ticket sales of India vs South Africa game, it was Virat Kohli's image which featured on the poster. Even the Proteas' captain Temba Bavuma missed out as face of Quinton de Kock was used alongside Kohli, reflecting the fact that ICC went by face value for these posters.
Rohit Sharma's image did appear but it was for the less-anticipated India vs Bangladesh game, which might have not gone down well with Hitman fans.
After the issue became viral on social media, it will be interesting to see the approach of ICC and broadcasters for advertisements, posters etc. going ahead for the T20 World Cup 2022.
