Ex-BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, refuses ‘removing’ Virat Kohli from the position of Indian cricket captain. He confessed, though, when Kohli desired to step back from leading T20Is, he advised the star batsman to likewise withdraw from ODI captaincy.
In the final part of 2021, Kohli gave up his role as India’s T20I captain. He had shared this plan before the T20 World Cup that same year. Post that, BCCI didn’t explain why but selected Rohit Sharma to lead in the following ODI series. Not much later, Kohli also left his position as Test captain.
“I didn’t remove Virat from captaincy. I have said this several times. He (Kohli) was not interested to lead in T20Is. So, after he made that decision, I told him, if you’re not interested to lead in T20Is, it’s better if you step down from entire white-ball cricket. Let there be a white-ball captain and a red-ball captain,” Ganguly said in a YouTube video.
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly claimed to have attempted to persuade Kohli to remain the T20I captain at the time. The Delhi-born cricket player refuted his assertions, stating that the BCCI administrators appropriately accepted his choice.
Kohli also stated that the first contact he had from the BCCI concerning the ODI captaincy was 90 minutes before the decision was made.
“I expect Rohit Sharma will continue to captain till the T20 World Cup” – Sourav Ganguly
While taking Virat Kohli’s position as captain in all three forms, Rohit Sharma was unable to end India’s run of consecutive ICC trophy droughts.
Ganguly has previously stated that he wants the Mumbai Indians captain to represent India in all three forms until the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“The problem is that many are not available. Surya is T20 captain, Surya is not a certainty in one-days. They have a different captain in one-days in KL Rahul and Test match obviously, Rohit wants to play.”
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly added:
“But as I said, once Rohit is back playing all formats, he should be the captain of India because he has done so well in the World Cup. And he is a leader, so I expect and presume that he will continue as captain till the T20 World Cup.”
Sourav Ganguly
Both Kohli and Rohit’s T20 credentials are under scrutiny, particularly in light of the rise of a younger batting generation.
Whether the pair’s white-ball background will help them qualify for the World Cup in the West Indies and the USA is still up in the air.