Better To Think About The Country First- Kapil Dev On Differences Between Virat Kohli And BCCI

Former India captain Kapil Dev reacted to the ongoing controversy between Test skipper Virat Kohli and The Board of Control for Cricket in India after Kohli gave explosive statements during India’s pre-departure presser on December 15.

Kohli, who was removed as the Indian ODI captain and replaced by Rohit Sharma as skipper in ODIs and T20Is, revealed that the decision was not communicated to him in advance and he only got the knowledge of it just one and a half hours before the BCCI made the official announcement.

Furthermore, Kohli contradicted BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s claims of him personally talking to the Delhi-based batter and trying to convince him to stay on as the T20I captain. Kohli, who stepped down as the India T20I captain after the T20 World Cup 2021, said that neither Ganguly nor any other official from BCCI had contacted him or tried to convince him not to quit T20I leadership.

You Have To Control The Situation: Kapil Dev Opines On Virat Kohli-BCCI Controversy

Kapil Dev, who led India to their first-ever World Cup win in 1983, was not happy to see Kohli and BCCI airing their dirty laundry in public and stated that the Indian Test skipper’s statements that exposed his differences with the BCCI on the issue of captaincy were ill-timed.

“It is not good to point fingers on anybody at this point in time. The South Africa tour is coming and please pay attention to the tour,” Kapil Dev told ABP News.

“I would say board president is board president but yes, the Indian cricket team captain is also a big thing. But talking badly about each other in public, I don’t think it is a good thing, whether it is Sourav or Kohli,” added Kapil Dev.

Kapil Dev further said that both the parties need to control the issue and think about the team and country first. He said speaking publicly about such issues will create unwanted controversy ahead of an important tour.

“You have to control the situation and it would be better to think about the country first. Whatever is wrong will be known soon but speaking publicly about the topic, I think, is wrong at this time. I would not want to see any controversy ahead of an important tour,” he explained.

The BCCI has not yet reacted to Kohli’s comments.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Reveals The ‘Logical Decision’ Behind Him Getting Removed From ODI Captaincy