It's Virat Vs Board On Captaincy: ‘I Wasn't Told Not To Step Down'

Caught By Surprise. Kohli Contradicts BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s Claims On The Manner Of His Removal As White-Ball Captain

- Arani Basu

New Delhi: Indian cricket has been plagued by lack of communication when it comes to changing captains or axing big players. Wednesday saw another ugly day in the Indian cricket board’s history when Test captain Virat Kohli contradicted BCCI’s claims on how he was removed as the full-time white-ball captain of the Indian team last week.

In a major embarrassment for BCCI, Kohli refuted president Sourav Ganguly’s statement that the board had requested him to stay on as the T20I skipper while he was announcing his resignation in September. At the end of the media briefing on the eve of the team’s departure to South Africa, it was about the captain’s word versus the president’s.

“Whatever was said about the communication that happened about the decision that was made was inaccurate,” Kohli emphatically stated.

“I was contacted (about losing ODI captaincy) one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting on Dec 8 for the Test series. There was no prior communication to me at all.”

“When I decided to leave T20 captaincy, I approached BCCI first. I told them my reasons and point of view. I was not told I shouldn’t step down as T20 captain. It was received very nicely. There was no offense or hesitation. It was deemed as a progressive step in the right direction,” he said.