Virat Kohli Has Told His Side Of Story, Time For Sourav Ganguly To Tell His Side - Ravi Shastri On ODI Captaincy Issue

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said that time has come to bury the Indian team ODI captaincy issue and while Virat Kohli told his side of the story, now it’s Sourav Ganguly’s turn to explain his side and clear the air around this saga which has engulfed Indian cricket for some time now.

It all began on December 8^th when BCCI publicly announced that Rohit Sharma will be the new Indian ODI and T20I captain, confirming the rumors that the BCCI selectors wanted to have only one captain for two white-ball formats despite Virat Kohli’s desire to captain in Tests and ODIs.

Kohli had stepped down as T20I captain after the T20 World Cup 2021 and Ganguly had told reporters earlier in December that Kohli refused to accept his personal and BCCI’s request to not step down as the T20I skipper.

However, on the eve of the Indian team’s departure for the South Africa tour, Kohli gave explosive statements in the press conference, contradicting Ganguly’s claims and stating that he was never approached by any official from BCCI or by Ganguly to discuss the captaincy matter. He also added that he was informed about the selectors’ decision of sacking him as ODI captain just 90 minutes before it was publicly announced by the board.

The Situation Could Have Been Handled Better: Ravi Shastri

Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri, whose tenure as India head coach ended after the T20 World Cup 2021, has opined on the Sourav Ganguly-Virat Kohli saga and said that one party has clarified his story, and now it’s time for the other person to come forth and share his side of the story to put an end to this issue, which he felt could have been handled better.

“Virat has given his side of the story. It needs the board president to give his side of the story. It’s not about whose lying and who’s not. It’s not right to jump into there until you know what the actual conversation was. With good communication, the situation could have been handled better,” Shastri said in a conversation with Indian Express e.Adda.

Ravi Shastri further talked about his relationship with Virat Kohli and hailed him as the best Test captain in the world today.

“Virat without a shadow of doubt should be Test captain.  Look at what he has done – no captain in the world leads with that kind of passion. I see a lot of myself in Virat, drive, hunger and self-confidence. My relationship with Virat was fantastic, two like-minded people going about their job. It was a personality clash between two individuals who did not gel. It was their problem, not mine: Shastri on the Kohli-Kumble fallout,” he said.

He backed Rohit Sharma’s appointment as the white-ball captain as well.

Also Read: He Wanted To Get Something Off His Chest: Sanjay Manjrekar On Virat Kohli’s Statements On Sourav Ganguly