Ahead of the T20I series, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had pointed finger on the busy scheduling of the bilateral series against New Zealand. He complained that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be more careful in scheduling the series when there is some massive difference between the two countries’ time zone. Days after his comment, a former member of the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA), Diana Edulji, has vehemently condemned Kohli’s statement.
Diana Edulji claims Virat Kohli has given the green signal back in 2017:
Edulji was astonished by Kohli’s criticism over busy scheduling. He opined that the skipper was asked before confirming the tour. Former CoA member claimed that Virat and coach Ravi Shastri had given the green signal to the tour.
“Virat complaining now is definitely strange, I feel that he is playing so much of cricket that he forgot that he has given OK for such a schedule. We didn’t force this on the players. They knew that they would be landing in New Zealand three days before. It’s written in the minutes. Only after they (players) gave their consent was it approved,” Edulji was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“We had asked if the players wanted to change anything. We passed the FTP only after the players and the coach okayed it,” she added.
Virat Kohli criticises BCCI scheduling:
Kohli on the eve of the first T20I match had said that there should be sufficient gaps between the games. As just after four days of competing against Australia at home, India flew to New Zealand for the full-fledged series.
“It is definitely getting closer and closer to landing at the stadium straight. That is how compressed the gap has become,” Kohli had said in the press conference ahead of the start of the tour. “Hopefully, this will be taken into consideration in the future.”
Despite, the scheduling issue, India had a good start on the tour as they have registered the victory in the five-match T20I series by winning first three T20Is.