In September, after stepping down from captaincy in the shortest format, Kohli had made his intent of leading India in the ODIs and Tests crystal clear.
“I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket,” a part of Kohli’s statement while giving up the T20I captaincy, has read.
With 65 wins in 95 matches, the aggressive right-hander has been widely credited for bringing in transformational changes in the team post the MS Dhoni-era.
However, it took just a 130-character sentence from the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) to take away ‘King Kohli’s’ ODI kingdom. The irony is such that the sentence did not even have Virat Kohli’s name in it.
“The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward,” BCCI tweeted on Wednesday night.
A ‘thank you note’ from the Sourav Ganguly-led board did come but almost 24 hours after the unceremonious exit and millions of tweets with the hashtag #ShameonBCCI.
“A leader who led the side with grit, passion & determination. Thank you Captain
@imVkohli!” the tweet read.
Virat Kohli yet to react after the snub. Is the Indian Test team captain unhappy?
However, the wait for Virat Kohli’s first reaction after the big snub continues. There was an Instagram post on Thursday, but nothing more than one of his numerous endorsements was on offer. The emotional fans of ‘King Kohli’ flooded the comment section with heart-warming tributes.
View this post on Instagram
The Delhi-born is yet to congratulate the Mumbai-born new ODI captain Rohit Sharma. He might have wished him luck personally but the way the entire episode has been managed is making the entire thing look even more murkier. All is not well between Kohli and BCCI and it’s there in open for everyone to see.
Sourav Ganguly’s personal call to Kohli
That said, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has clarified that he had called Kohli to inform him about the decision of the selectors. Ganguly stated that selectors were against having two different captains in the white-ball formats.
“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 told 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.
InsideSport.IN has already narrated the inside story – what unfurled in the background and the 48-hour ultimatum to Virat Kohli to give up the post.
One of the officials informed InsideSport.In that Kohli was explained the thought process of the board & the selectors. He was told in no uncertain terms that he should give up the ODI captaincy since it wasn’t prudent to have two captains in white ball cricket. However, Kohli refused to budge.
The board officials and chairman of the selection committee kept waiting for Kohli’s call for the next 48 hours. However, Kohli, the highest run-scorer among active cricketers, did not call, forcing a miffed BCCI to make the abrupt announcement.
India new captain: Virat Kohli very upset with captaincy snub? India Test captain yet to congratulate Rohit Sharma
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