Kapil Dev Urges BCCI And Virat Kohli To Bury The Hatchet

Team India’s World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev wants the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Virat Kohli to sort out the issues between them and keep the nation at priority.

Kohli stepped down from the T20I captaincy role after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup in November, last year. However, just ahead of the South Africa tour, he was replaced with Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain as the selectors didn’t want two white-ball captains for India.

Virat Kohli-BCCI saga not apt for Indian cricket team’s progress

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had said that the selectors had requested Kohli to not give up the T20I captaincy, something that national chief selector Chetan Sharma also reiterated during the recently-concluded South Africa Test series.

However, Kohli had mentioned that his decision to step down from India’s T20I captaincy was welcomed by the Indian board.

South Africa whitewashed India 3-0 in the recent ODI series after a narrow win by four runs on Sunday in Cape Town. This was India’s first ODI series after Kohli stepped down as captain of the team from all formats.

Virat Kohli is a fabulous player: Kapil Dev

Kapil wants both the BCCI and Kohli to come to a conclusion and bring an end to their indifference. Kapil called Kohli a fabulous player and wants him to score more runs for India in the coming matches.

“These days you do not get surprised by much. When he quit the T20I captaincy, one thought perhaps there was too much on his mind. From what we have read and heard, nobody wanted him to give up captaincy (then or now). He is a fantastic player; we should respect his decision,” Kapil told The Week Magazine.

“They should have sorted out the issues between them. Pick up the phone, talk to each other, put the country and team before yourself. In the beginning, I also got everything I wanted. But sometimes, you may not get it. That should not mean that you leave the captaincy.

“If he has left it because of that (ego), then I do not know what to say. He is a fabulous player; [I want to] watch him play so much more and score runs, especially in Test cricket,” Kapil added.

Kohli made a couple of half-centuries in the three ODIs and also was dismissed for a nought in the second ODI. The 33-year-old Indian batter hasn’t scored an international hundred for more than two years.

Also Read: Virat Kohli’s Era Has Ended, The Aura Created By Him Was Huge – Former Skipper’s Childhood Coach Rajkumar Sharma