Virat Kohli was all set to announce his departure from India’s ODI captaincy post but just before the skipper could make the announcement, the selectors got one-up on him and made the decision public themselves, says a report in Cricbuzz.
As per this report, while the decision to sack Kohli from ODI captaincy was taken by the Chetan Sharma led selection panel in cohesion with BCCI apex council led by president Sourav Ganguly, the captain was given time to make the announcement personally to the fans.
However, Kohli chose not to do so, curiously leaving the onus on the selection committee and BCCI to make the decision public, which they did, contentiously so, without even mentioning Kohli’s name in the press release or thanking him for his services.
The Indian board simply stated that Rohit Sharma will be India’s full-time ODI and T20I captain “going forward” and hasn’t till now explained what led to the move and why exactly, as Ganguly has said to ANI, does the board think that there can’t be two white-ball captains for two different formats?
“It’s a call that the BCCI and selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats.”
Ganguly said.
The selectors’ view conveyed by the BCCI president is in complete contrast to Kohli’s own plans. Upon quitting his T20I captaincy post, the Indian skipper had made it clear that he is looking forward to continue leading the side in ODIs and Tests.
This makes it obvious that the ODI captaincy has been taken away from Kohli, which is disappointing for a lot of his fans considering that the skipper has a mighty impressive record in his tenure. Of his 95 ODIs as captain, Kohli led India to wins in 68 and lost only 27.
The team made the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup both in the UK. As captain, Kohli has a tremendous record with the bat, scoring a jaw-dropping 5,449 runs at an average of 72.65 while striking at 98.28. His record includes 21 centuries and 27 half-centuries.
However, there is a twist in the tale here, as the report from Cricbuzz suggested. The report says it’s not that Kohli himself didn’t contemplate giving away the ODI captaincy after quitting his post in T20Is.
“He had often said that confidentially…that he would give up the white-ball captaincy. Something should be coming soon.”
a source told Cricbuzz.
But then Kohli didn’t take any such call in reality, and even though Ganguly and selectors gave him time to make their decision public, he chose not to.
Cricbuzz reported the back and forth that may have happened inside the room leading up to Kohli’s sacking. The report said Kohli was made aware of the Test squad that the selectors picked for the South Africa tour, and he was pleased with it, having no issues either with the elevation of Rohit to the vice-captaincy post at the expense of Ajinkya Rahane, who was on the verge of being dropped.
The report also triggered a speculation on Rohit’s intentions by claiming that the experienced opener put forth a condition to the board and the selectors that he “would accept the job only if the entire white-ball responsibility was entrusted to him.”
