BCCI President Sourav Ganguly Explains Why Virat Kohli Was Removed From ODI Captaincy
Published - 10 Dec 2021, 12:15 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:02 AM
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly opened up on the need to replace Rohit Sharma with Virat Kohli as India’s ODI skipper.
On Wednesday, the BCCI announced an 18-member Test squad for the South Africa tour. Apart from announcing the Test squad, the BCCI also mentioned that Rohit will completely take over the leadership of white-ball cricket as he was named the ODI skipper as well.
Just a month before the T20 World Cup, Kohli had announced that he would step down from the Indian captaincy role in the shortest format. Kohli’s decision was to reduce his workload management and he also did the same in IPL with RCB.
BCCI had requested Virat Kohli to not step down as the T20I skipper: Sourav Ganguly
Ganguly said that the Indian selectors thought of not having two white-ball captains and hence they decided to hand over the ODI captaincy to Rohit.
“It’s a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by Timesnow.
“So, it was decided that Virat will continue as Test captain and Rohit will take over as the white-ball captain. I as President personally spoke to Virat Kohli and the chairman of selectors has also spoken to him,” he further added.
We thank Virat Kohli for his contributions as ODI captain: Sourav Ganguly
Rohit has won the Asia Cup in 2018 and the Nidahas Trophy in the same year and has also led the team in various bilateral series in Kohli’s absence.
Meanwhile, Kohli will continue to lead the Test side as he was named the skipper of the team for the South Africa tour.
Ganguly showed his faith in both Rohit and Kohli’s abilities and thanked the latter for his service as India’s ODI skipper.
“We have full faith in Rohit Sharma’s leadership abilities, and Virat will continue as the Test captain. We as BCCI are confident that Indian cricket is in good hands. We thank Virat Kohli for his contributions as captain in the white-ball format,” the BCCI president added.
Kohli led India in 95 ODI matches and 65 of them turned out to be on a winning note. Under his captaincy, India went to the final of ICC Champions Trophy and semis of the 2019 World Cup.
Also Read: I Can Expect Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma To Handle Themselves Well In Ups And Downs: Salman Butt
