Rift in Indian team? – BCCI Denies Kohli vs Players Differences: The BCCI as usual has once again denied reports that their are differences with-in the Indian dressing room. According to reports doing rounds by news agencies PTI, IANS & various other media houses – Indian captain Virat Kohli was reported by some of his teammates to BCCI for his high-handedness in the dressing room. But the Indian board has denied, that no such complains have been made by any player – Follow all LIVE Updates from Indian Cricket on InsideSport.co
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“The media must stop writing this rubbish. Let me say this on the record that no Indian cricketer has made any complaint to the BCCI – written or verbal. The BCCI can’t keep answering every false report that keeps appearing. Who said that?” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal told TOI on Wednesday.
Rift in Indian team? BCCI as usual denies, ‘no rift in Indian team, no Indian cricketer has complained against Virat Kohli’
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Rift in Indian team? – BCCI Denies Kohli vs Players Differences: The Board treasurer in the interview further declared that the BCCI doesn’t have any role to play in the Kohli’s resignation as T20 Captain post World Cup.
“The media asked me if the BCCI had taken a decision and I said no because that was true – the BCCI had not taken any decision or even discussed it. Eventually, Virat took his own decision and conveyed it to the BCCI and that was his call. Today, the same media is saying players complained to the BCCI. So, on behalf of the board I can tell you, there have been no complaints. Is there any confusion?” Dhumal declared in TOI’s interview.
Rift in Indian team? What exactly is reported by section of the media? As per reports, a few senior players had complained to the BCCI after Virat Kohli’s run down in the dressing room post the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand.
Kohli questioned the players’ intent especially of Cheteshwar Pujara and following that vice-captain on the tour, Ajinkya Rahane had complained to BCCI secretary Jay Shah saying that the players were unhappy, IANS, PTI and New Indian Express reported.
A month after the incident, reports emerged that Virat Kohli was mulling over the decision to step down. While BCCI rubbished the reports, Virat Kohli did step down, albeit from T20Is a week later.
T20 World Cup: However, in between that, BCCI had installed former India captain MS Dhoni as India’s mentor, indicating that the board wanted to alleviate the tension between the captain and the players. As all players in India’s dressing room respect Dhoni including Kohli, the BCCI expects a calming effect in the dressing room.
T20 World Cup: The sequence of the events as reported by few media outlets:
- Virat Kohli questioned the intent of three players and gave a dressing room run-down pulling up Ashwin, Rahane and Pujara.
- It didn’t go down well with the three players.
- Kohli’s poor run of form further complicated the situation. It was thought that his poor form led to poor decision making.
- Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to inform BCCI secretary Jay Shah about their displeasure about Virat Kohli within the dressing room.
- BCCI immediately stepped in and talked to the players and tried to calm the situation.
- But Virat Kohli ignoring Ravichandran Ashwin from the Test series against England further fuelled the fire. Even head coach Ravi Shastri batted for Ashwin’s inclusion but Kohli opted to go with Jadeja citing combination.
- After the Test series, Ashwin was included in the T20 World Cup squad in place of Yuzvendra Chahal although Kohli wanted the latter while Rohit Sharma supported the decision.
- That irked Kohli and to alleviate the situation, BCCI brought in MS Dhoni as he is widely respected amongst Indian players.
- Virat Kohli announced he would step down from Team India’s T20I captaincy after the World Cup.
- Dhoni’s mentorship is a temporary fix and Kohli is expected to step down from the ODI captaincy too in near future or BCCI may remove him soon.
Rift in Indian team? T20 World Cup: The World Cup is round the corner & sequence of the events doesn’t bore well for the Indian team’s preparations. Though BCCI has denied the reports of rift within the team and tried dousing the fire – the issue will not get settle anytime soon.
