Indian cricket has a become a joke after Virat Kohli dropped a bombshell during his virtual press conference by saying that he was informed by chief selector Chetan Sharma just one-and-half hours before the Test team for South Africa was announced that he won’t be the captain of ODI team any more.
Kohli was very clear in the press conference that there was no communication from the BCCI over the ODI captaincy between September 16 when he had informed the board that he would be stepping down from the T20 captaincy after the T20 World Cup. He added that he got a call on December 8 from the chief selector - which was more than two-and-half months after his decision to step down as T20 captain.
He went on to say that the chief selector discussed the Test team which they both agreed and before ending the call, he was informed that the five selectors have decided he won’t be the ODI captain to which he replied: ‘okay fine.’
Few days ago after Kohli’s removal as captain, Ganguly had come out with a statement that he had requested Kohli to continue with the T20 captaincy but once he decided to step down, the selectors decided to remove him from ODI captaincy to avoid too much of leadership in India’s white ball format. And Ganguly had agreed to the selectors’ decision by saying that the bottomline is there can’t be two white ball captains.
Now, this press conference by Kohli totally contradicts to what Sourav Ganguly had said. God alone knows what was the communication between Ganguly and the selectors but this press conference has made a total mockery of Indian team, it’s board, selectors and of course Kohli. He also confirmed that he was available for the ODI series in South Africa and talk of him opting out for his daughter’s birthday were total lies.
Kohli did not shy away from expressing his frustration on things that happen outside but nothing could demotivate him to play for India. “To be prepared for a tour like South Africa and perform to the best of my abilities, nothing has and nothing will derail me from that. “
Hope better sense prevails and this drama ends with proper communication with everyone involved who run Indian cricket as it can’t get worse than this!
- Cricket enthusiast Anis Sajan is a Vice Chairman of Danube Group
