Former Indian skipper, Kapil Dev has urged the BCCI and Virat Kohli to sit together and have a long chat and bury the hatchet for the betterment of Indian cricket. Last year in December, Kohli was laid off from his ODI captaincy by BCCI, which resulted in a period of turmoil in Indian cricket.
Both Ganguly and Kohli gave contradictory statements about BCCI’s reaction to Kohli’s decision, which divided the cricket world. When it seemed that things were getting better, Kohli dropped another bombshell by announcing his decision to step down as the Test captain.
India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev feels that despite the situations that led Kohli to resign as the Indian captain, one should be respectful towards his decision given all that he has achieved for Indian cricket.
When Kohli took over the Test captaincy, Team India was ranked 7th in the ICC Test rankings. From there to the past 5 years, Team India was the no.1 ranked Test team, winning Test series in Australia, West Indies, Sri Lanka, and lead 2-1 in England with one match to go.
"These days you do not get surprised by much. When he quit the T20I captaincy, one thought perhaps there was too much on his mind. From what we have read and heard, nobody wanted him to give up captaincy (then or now). He is a fantastic player; we should respect his decision," Kapil told The Week magazine.
The first Indian bowler to 400 Test wickets, Kapil said that though he is not aware of the reasons behind Kohli’s decision to leave Test captaincy, he believes that Kohli should have been a little more patient with the BCCI.
And just like any other cricket fan, Kapil also wishes to see Kohli thrive as a batter and get back to his best run-scoring form.
"They should have sorted out the issues between them. Pick up the phone, talk to each other, put the country and team before yourself. In the beginning, I also got everything I wanted. But sometimes, you may not get it. That should not mean that you leave the captaincy. If he has left it because of that, then I do not know what to say. He is a fabulous player; [I want to] watch him play so much more and score runs, especially in Test cricket," Kapil mentioned.
