Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has finally opened up about the recent contradiction of statements between India Test captain Virat Kohli and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.
On December 8, the BCCI announced on Twitter that Rohit Sharma will be the new ODI and T20I captain of the Indian team going forward, and many experts and fans were miffed with the way Virat Kohli was treated by the board as he didn’t get any mention despite leading India in white-ball format since 2017.
Later while BCCI rectified this by putting out a tribute to Kohli’s captaincy in limited-overs cricket, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly stated that the decision to remove Kohli from ODI captaincy was made by the selectors after he and Chetan Sharma, the chief BCCI selector failed to convince him to stay on as T20I captain after the T20 World Cup 2021.
Kohli had stated in his announcement of quitting the T20I captaincy that he wanted to remain ODI and Test captain, but Ganguly said that the selection panel opined that there cannot be split captaincy in two white-ball formats and hence decided to move on to Rohit Sharma.
Meanwhile, in a press conference before the Indian team left for South Africa, Virat Kohli made explosive statements saying that he was informed of the decision to remove him as ODI captain just 90 minutes before BCCI went public with the announcement of Rohit Sharma taking over as white-ball captain.
Further answering questions, Kohli claimed that neither Ganguly nor anyone from the selection panel approached him to talk about staying on as T20I captain.
These contradicting statements have given the media and speculators fodder to make their own theories about how Virat Kohli was treated after the T20 World Cup 2021, or whether Ganguly was right backing the selection panel’s decision.
Some even speculated that after Ravi Shastri’s tenure as head coach ended, Kohli lost the support he had in the dressing room and it was a good time to take some control of the team away from the Delhi-based batter. The fact that he failed to win a single ICC trophy during his tenure also gave them leverage.
Meanwhile, Shastri said during an interaction with Indian Express: “Virat has given his side of the story, it needs the board president to give his side of the story. With good communication, the situation could have been handled better.”
“I see a lot of myself in Virat, drive, hunger, and self-confidence. My relationship with Virat was fantastic, two like-minded people going about their job,” Shastri said on his relationship with Kohli.
He also called Virat Kohli the best Test captain in the world saying that no captain in the world leads his team with such passion as Kohli does.
“It was a personality clash between two individuals who did not gel. It was their problem, not mine”: Shastri spoke on the Kohli-Kumble fallout.
Meanwhile, on Sourav Ganguly, Shastri stated: “I see no residue. Just events and you react to those events. That aside, we are cricketers. Both of us know the game. That does not mean we will agree on anything. Interacted with Ganguly many times. With good communication, the Indian team situation can be handled better.”
He further backed Rohit Sharma as the white-ball captain.
(Indian Express inputs)
