Sourav Ganguly breaks his silence after Virat Kohli’s explosive press conference on captaincy issue, read full statement
The Virat Kohli captaincy issue is one that has hogged the headlines in the world of cricket. Ahead of India’s tour to South Africa, the 33-year-old Kohli revealed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was fine with him stepping down as the captain of the Indian side in T20I cricket.
Sourav Ganguly breaks silence on ongoing Virat Kohli captaincy issue
The BCCI President was pretty quick in reply to the question as he was in no mood to talk a lot about the matter. Ganguly reacted to the ongoing controversy by saying: “no comments. BCCI is looking into it”.
The information was passed on in the form of a tweet by a Twitter handle identified as ‘Pooja Mehta’. The former cricketers and fans feel that there is some unrest in the Indian cricket camp.
In a first reaction to the Virat Kohli controversy, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly says, “no comments. BCCI is looking into it.”
— Pooja Mehta (@pooja_news) December 16, 2021
Sourav Ganguly’s statements don’t add up!
Would the BCCI president lie? It’s a question that not many would have wondered about until Kohli squashed all statements made by the former Indian skipper and current BCCI president in an interview with News18 a few days back.
“It’s like I said… I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up T20 captaincy. Obviously, he felt the workload. Which is fine, he has been a great cricketer, he has been very intense with his cricket. He has captained for a long period of time and these things happen. Because I have captained for a long period of time; therefore, I know. Also, they wanted only one white-ball captain,” Ganguly had told News18.
When asked why one white ball captain is important when there are different formats of the game, Ganguly said: “A good team does not have too many leaders. That’s probably the reason and that’s what it is.”
Kohli put an end to that with his comment that “no one had asked me to not leave T20I captaincy”.
Here Are The Top Things That Came To Light From Virat Kohli’s Press Conference:
(1) “When I left the T20 captaincy, I had first approached BCCI and intimated them of my decision and laid down my point of view in front of them (office bearers). I gave the reasons why I wanted to quit T20 captaincy and my viewpoint was received very nicely. There was no offence, no hesitation and not for once was I told that ‘you should not leave T20 captaincy’,” Kohli said, in complete contradiction to what Sourav Ganguly had stated earlier that the Board requested him not to quit.”
(2) Whatever was said about the communication that happened about the decision that was made was inaccurate,” Kohli said with obvious reference to Ganguly’s statement.
(3) “I was contacted one and half hours before the selection meeting on 8th for the Test series and there was no prior communication to me at all since I announced my decision on T20 captaincy. The chief selector discussed the Test team to which we both agreed. Before ending the call, I was told that the five selectors have decided that I will not be the ODI captain to which I replied ‘okay fine’.”
(4) “I can understand why (he was removed as ODI captain)- the reason – we haven’t won an ICC tournament. Whether the decision they took is right or wrong, there’s no debate. It’s a logical decision which I understand. The events that transpired and the way I was communicated (things), I’ve told you.”
(5) “I was and I am available for selection all the time. I never communicated with the BCCI asking for rest. I am available for the ODI series in South Africa, and was always available,” Kohli said during the pre-departure press conference before the tour of South Africa.
(6) “There is no rift between me and Rohit Sharma. I have clarified multiple times in the last 2.5 years and now I am tired of clarifying things. I can guarantee you that my communication will never be to take my team down till I am playing cricket. It is my commitment towards Indian cricket,” said Kohli.
(7) “My responsibility is obviously to push the team in the right direction, something that I’ve always looked to do even before I became captain, so that mindset has never changed and it will never change,” Kohli on his role under Rohit’s captaincy.
(8) “Rohit is a very able captain and tactically very sound. We’ve seen that in the games that he has captained for India and in the IPL as well. So is (Rahul) Dravid bhai, who’s a very, very balanced coach, great man manager.”
(9) “Both of them (Rohit and Dravid) will have my absolute support and my contribution in whatever vision they set for the team and I will be there to support that 100 percent and continue to be a guy who can push the team in the right direction going forward from here.”
(10) “South Africa is one place where we have not won a series yet. So we are very motivated to do that. And the mindset is always to go there and win a series in any country that we play.”
Earlier, former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt opined that there is no proper communication between Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli. Even Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma opened up on the subject.
The communication gap should not have happened:
Virat Kohli’s coach And, the childhood coach of Kohli, Rajkumar Sharma has opined that the communication gap between Kohli and the BCCI should not have happened. Sharma also added that there should be some transparency between the board and the player, and concluded by stating that he does not understand why there should be such a communication gap.
“This is something unusual I have heard, I didn’t see Virat’s press conference as well. This communication gap should not have happened. According to me, there should be transparency between them and I don’t know why this has happened or why such a communication gap was there,” opined Rajkumar Sharma.
India will begin their assignment in South Africa with a three match Test series, and the first rubber will start on 26th December 2021 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
(With Inputs From Agencies)