Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt backed BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s statement on sacking Virat Kohli as Indian ODI skipper. The BCCI on Thursday (8th December) surprised everyone by handing Rohit Sharma the leadership role in ODIs and T20Is.
There were many speculations as to why BCCI sacked Virat Kohli as a captain from 50-overs format despite him expressing his keenness to lead the team in preparation for the 2023 World Cup.
Read Also: Virat Kohli’s inability to win an ICC trophy reason why BCCI sacked him as ODI captain- Saba Karim
Clearing all the doubts, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly stated that the governing body requested Virat Kohli to not step down as a T20I skipper but he opted against it and it was only after that selectors felt it’s not right to have two captains for two different white-ball formats.
He revealed that he along with the chairman of selectors spoke to Virat Kohli about the decision.
"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.
"So it was decided that Virat will continue as Test captain and Rohit will take over as the white-ball captain. I as President personally spoke to Virat Kohli and the chairman of selectors has also spoken to him," Sourav Ganguly had told ANI.
Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, Salman Butt said that there’s no sense in having two captains for two different white-ball formats.
He pointed out that it’s not about the decision being right or wrong as it has happened with the idea to take pressure off Virat Kohli and value his batting.
"Even I had mentioned this before. It doesn't make sense to have one T20I captain and one ODI captain. And it is not about the decision of making Rohit Sharma the captain being right or wrong. He is equally capable and has performed well as a captain. If this has happened with the understanding that the decision has happened with the idea of taking pressure off a person to value his batting," Salman Butt said.
Further backing Sourav Ganguly’s statement on sacking Virat Kohli as an ODI skipper, Butt cited the example of how Joe Root despite being Test captain play ODIs only as a player. He added that he did not find BCCI President’s words disrespecting.
"I feel what happened is that board did not want him to leave T20I captaincy, but because he did leave it, you cannot have two white-ball captains. I don't understand that logic. Even Joe Root plays in ODI cricket, but he isn't the captain. Don't see any angle of disrespect here because I don't expect this to happen to a player of his caliber," he said.
Even though Virat Kohli failed to win ICC Trophy as Indian ODI skipper, he ended his captaincy tenure as the fourth most successful Indian skipper with 65 wins from 95 ODI games under his belt to go with a win percentage of 70.43, which is the highest among all Indian skippers.
