Senior BCCI Official Finally Lifts Lid On Controversial End To Virat Kohli’s Captaincy Stint
Aug 4, 2022 at 2:09 PM
BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal has lifted the lid on the controversial end to Virat Kohli’s captaincy stint. The former India skipper had stepped down as India’s T20I captain after last year’s T20 World Cup. He was subsequently removed as the ODI captain before the South Africa tour. Rohit Sharma was named as his replacement.
And while everyone was expecting him to continue his highly successful journey as Test captain, Kohli left everyone surprised by stepping down as Test captain too. Kohli ended his stint as India’s most successful Test captain. He first led the national side in Test cricket in 2014 against Australia. The batting great guided the team to an unprecedented back-to-back Test series wins Down Under.
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India also achieved the top ICC Test rank under his captaincy. In the inaugural World Test Championship, he led India to the final where they lost to New Zealand. With everything going well in Tests, Kohli’s decision to quit raised a number of eyebrows. One of his statements where he contradicted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s comments in the press conference just before their departure to South Africa for the Test series further added fuel to the fire.
While Ganguly had claimed that the board requested Kohli to continue as captain, Kohli stated otherwise, saying: “Before quitting the T20I captaincy, I had approached the BCCI and explained the reasons behind my decision. That was received very well. There was no offence or hesitation. Mujhe yeh nahin kaha gaya tha ki aap T20 captaincy na chodiye (I wasn’t told not to relinquish the T20 captaincy).
Arun Dhumal on end of Virat Kohli’s captaincy stint:
Few months after the controversial phase, BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal has lifted the lid on the matter. While speaking to journalist Vimal Kumar, Dhumal insisted that relinquishing the captaincy was solely Kohli’s call. Dhuma was replying to a question from the journalist where the latter asked whether the BCCI as mistreating Kohli.
“See… as far as Virat is concerned, he is not a simple player. He is a great and his contribution to Indian cricket is unparalleled. It is outstanding. So, such conversations (board is trying to sideline Kohli) keep taking place in the media and it does not affect us. We want that he returns to form soon, and as far as team selection is concerned, we leave it to selectors. It is their call as to how they want to go about it,” Dhumal said.
“As far as the issue of captaincy is concerned, it was his call. He decided that mujhe ab nahi karni hai captaincy (that I don’t want to captain). It is possible that someone feels it’s best to do it after the World Cup but that is their point of view. But he wanted to quit, and it was purely his decision. And we respected it. See he has contributed so much to Indian cricket that everyone in the cricket board respects him. We would like to see Virat in action on the ground,” he added.