Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has come out in defence for BCCI after they have been criticized from all corners following a fiery press conference by Virat Kohli on Wednesday. Notable that Virat Kohli revealed that he was informed (about ODI captaincy) only an hour and a half before the actual announcement.
Former Indian captain turned commentator, Sunil Gavaskar said that getting a call from the chairman of selectors should be enough and he also doesn’t believe in all the hullaballoo regarding sacking Virat Kohli as ODI captain.
Speaking to Sports Tak, the former Indian legend said, “He was told before the public announcement, right? It’s not like he found out through the media announcement. The chairman of the Selection Committee told him before the announcement so he (Chetan Sharma) gave him that courtesy. It’s not like Kohli found out through the media that he has been removed from the captaincy. So he did know. What more do you want?”
In the press conference, Virat Kohli also rubbished Sourav Ganguly’s claims that the BCCI president asked him to reconsider his resignation from the T20I captaincy. And as the test squad had been announced for the South Africa tour, BCCI also released a press note that Rohit Sharma would captain India in both white-ball formats.
Virat Kohli has the best-winning % among all Indian captains
As an ODI captain, Virat Kohli captained India in 95 games, winning 65 and losing 27. His winning percentage (70.43) is the best among all Indian captains. So people in the cricketing circle believe that he deserved a better send-off however Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t see anything wrong in it.
“I don’t understand what’s the controversy in this. If he was informed by the chairman of the Selection Committee 1.5 hours before the announcement – when they were selecting the Test team they would have surely consulted Kohli. Perhaps he would have also been present in the Zoom meeting. And I know that even today the Indian captain doesn’t get a vote in (selection). He can be present there and give his opinion but the final decision is of the 5 Selection Committee members,” Gavaskar said.
“When the selection for the Test team for South Africa would have concluded, after that – this means after the main agenda of the meeting – he must have been informed that he won’t be the ODI captain. If he has been informed about this then I don’t understand what’s the controversy in all this,” he added further.
Indian Team has departed to South Africa on Wednesday and the tour will begin with the test series on December 26 at Centurion.
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