Virat Kohli vs BCCI: Virat Kohli was requested not to step down – In another turn of events, the selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma refuted Virat Kohli’s claims that he was never requested not to step down from T20I captaincy. Kohli in an explosive press conference said he had no communication with the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and he was only informed 90 minutes before the Test team selection. Follow IND vs SA Live Updates on InsideSport.IN
While Ganguly fell in a difficult position, Chetan Sharma clarified that it wasn’t the case. All the office bearers and the five members of the selection committee asked Virat Kohli not to step down from T20I captaincy, at least not before the T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma was named the white-ball captain.
Virat Kohli vs BCCI: Chetan Sharma refutes Kohli, says ‘No communication gap with players, we all asked him to reconsider T20 captaincy’
“There is no confusion. There is no communication problem between the board, selectors, and the players. You can only inform the captain when the selectors are on the same page. I alone cannot take the call, as soon as we reached the decision, we informed Virat Kohli. When the meeting started, it was a surprise for everybody that Virat decided to leave the T20I captaincy. We never wanted any controversy,” Chetan Sharma said in a virtual press conference on Friday.
“Whoever was a part of the meeting asked Virat to consider his decision to leave T20I captaincy, it was asked that for the sake of Indian cricket, consider the decision to leave T20I captaincy as the World Cup was so near. We thought this conversation could have been had after the T20 World Cup, we respect Virat Kohli and his decision. Everybody told him to think about leaving T20I captaincy,” he added.
In the pre-departure press conference, Virat Kohli claimed that no one including Sourav Ganguly requested him not to step down.
Virat Kohli vs BCCI: Chetan Sharma refutes Kohli, says ‘No communication gap with players, we all asked him to reconsider T20 captaincy’
“I was contacted one and a half hours before the selection meeting on the 8th for the Test series and there was no prior communication to me at all. Before ending the call I was told that the five selectors had decided that I would not be the ODI captain, to which I replied, ‘ok fine’,” Virat Kohli said.
Chetan Sharma said the selectors had to think of ‘Indian cricket’ and not have split captains in white-ball formats.
“It was Virat’s decision, nobody told him to quit the T20I captaincy. Once he quit the captaincy of T20I, the selectors have to think because what our thinking was that there should be one captain for the white-ball format because it will be easy for the selectors to plan things. We did inform him regarding this,” said Sharma during a virtual press conference.
TEAM : KL Rahul (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, W Sundar, J Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 31, 2021
Virat Kohli vs BCCI: Chetan Sharma refutes Kohli, says ‘No communication gap with players, we all asked him to reconsider T20 captaincy’
“The decision to appoint new ODI captain was taken by the selectors. As soon as the selection committee reached a decision, I immediately called up to Virat. It was a Test meeting selection, we never wanted to inform him in that selection committee, so that is why I called him when our meeting was over and I told him that this is what selectors think and there should be one white-ball captain. We had a good chat,” he added.
Virat Kohli vs BCCI: Chetan Sharma refutes Kohli, says ‘No communication gap with players, we all asked him to reconsider T20 captaincy’
