Last Update on: January 28th, 2022 at 03:46 pm
Manoj Tiwary, an India batter has criticised former India captain Virat Kohli for creating unnecessary controversy over the captaincy. Kohli has stepped down as a Test captain last month after losing the South Africa Test series 2-1.
He had earlier stepped down as T20I captain of the Indian team and was then sacked as ODI skipper after he allegedly refused to continue as white-ball leader despite requests from BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and the selection panel which Kohli had openly denied.
Though he had shown a desire to continue as captain in ODIs and Tests after announcing his relinquishment of T20I captaincy, the BCCI selectors cited not having two white-ball captains as a reason for handing over the reins to Rohit Sharma in both formats.
Manoj Tiwary, the current minister of state for the Affairs of Sports and Youth in West Bengal’s TMC government, has slammed both the BCCI and Virat Kohli for not having proper communication and letting things snowball into a controversy.
The former Indian cricketer also feels Kohli set the wrong example by announcing his decision to quit T20I captaincy before the T20 World Cup began. He said that it shifted the focus of the team from the tournament to the T20I captaincy.
“The T20 World Cup was our priority a few months back, but Virat announced his intention to relinquish the T20I captaincy just before the tournament. Now, that’s not what you would expect from a captain as a fan.
“All your energy should’ve been focused on the T20 World Cup. However, once the focus shifted to the captaincy issue, the problem began to snowball into a bigger controversy that could’ve been avoided. The problem could’ve been resolved via a face-to-face meeting, which I think didn’t happen,” Tiwary told Sportskeeda.
Kohli had given contradictory statements saying that neither Ganguly nor BCCI selectors approached him about not quitting the T20I captaincy and said that he was informed of his sacking as ODI captain just 90 minutes before the official announcement was made on Twitter.
It Affects The Team Environment For Sure: Manoj Tiwary On Heat Between Virat Kohli And The BCCI
Manoj Tiwary said that the situation could’ve been handled better had the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Virat Kohli spoken to each other face-to-face. Both parties gave statements that contradicted one another and even the chief of the BCCI selection committee Chetan Sharma had to face the press to clear things out.
“It affects the team environment for sure. A healthy and good atmosphere is necessary to be in a good space, as a team and also as an individual. Everyone has seen that things haven’t been going well between the BCCI and Virat. It shouldn’t have happened in public.
“There are mature people on both sides, so these things shouldn’t come out in public. As a sports fan, it has made me unhappy. What it does is it transfers the energy, whether good or bad, to others because whoever is close to one individual will subconsciously keep thinking about this controversy,” he further said.
Rohit Sharma is now primed to captain the Indian team in all three formats while a young star is slated to be groomed to take over the reins in 2-3 years’ time.
