When asked if there would be any action taken against Kohli following the South Africa tour, Ganguly said that the BCCI would deal with it.
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Sourav Ganguly, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), refused to comment on the white-ball captaincy row following Virat Kohli‘s earlier comments. “Let’s not take this further, I have nothing to say,” he said. When asked if there would be any action taken against Virat Kohli following the South Africa tour, the former Indian skipper said, “I have nothing to say. It is the matter of the BCCI and they will only deal with it.”
A day after Kohli was removed as ODI captain, BCCI President Ganguly told ANI that he had spoken to Virat about the leadership change, and that he had asked Virat not to give up the T20I captaincy as well. “It’s a call that the BCCI and the 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 had told Indian news agency ANI.
“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,” the BCCI president had added.
However, in a press conference on Wednesday, Virat Kohli contradicted Ganguly. “Whatever was said about the communication that happened during the decision that was made was inaccurate. I was contacted one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting on 8th for the Test series,” said Kohli while answering a question from ANI.
The Indian red-ball squad, led by Virat Kohli, is in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a three-match Test series against the Proteas. The first Test match will take place on December 26.
Kohli on Wednesday opened up on how the entire process of naming Rohit Sharma as Team India’s new ODI captain, in place of him, transpired. Virat, while addressing the media before the team’s departure for the Test series in South Africa, said that he was informed by the selectors that he won’t be the ODI captain anymore just one and a half hours before the Test squad for the South Africa series was announced and that there was no prior communication on the same from the BCCI. BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma was reportedly scheduled to address a press conference on the timeline of events but this was cancelled later in the day on Wednesday, December 15.
Following Kohli’s dismissal, Rohit Sharma was named captain of the Indian ODI and T20I teams. The decision has sparked debate, given the ambiguity surrounding Kohli’s desire to step down as captain of the national team in the 50-over format. Rohit, on the other hand, stated that the legendary Indian cricketer remained a “leader” of the team, praising his ability to deliver with the bat.
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