BCCI wants Virat Kohli removed as ODI captain

There has been a great deal written and spoken about Virat Kohli’s leadership situation in recent weeks, but there are still some unsolved concerns left. The BCCI office-bearers have been considering firing Kohli for a long time, according to stories, comments, and remarks that have surfaced in the wake of the controversy. Betting in India will now favour the Indian side in the days to come.

Kohli had declared his decision to stand aside as the team’s T20I captain to better manage his workload. He was doing fairly well with the cricket bat but the pressure was too much at times. This was what he had let the media and his fans know recently.

However, he made it clear that he intended to continue to captain the Test and One-Day International teams. Many were taken aback when the BCCI while announcing the Test squad for the next South Africa series, announced rather imposingly that the selectors “determined” that Rohit Sharma will be in charge of the One-Day International side “going ahead.”

What did Virat Kohli and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly add further with regards to this topic, which has been doing the rounds in recent times and the fans want to know more?

Later, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly revealed that the decision was made by the board of directors and the selectors collectively to avoid “too much leadership,” as the stakeholders came to a consensus that two white-ball teams did not require separate captains to compete effectively. Ganguly went on to say that Kohli had rejected down the BCCI‘s request to continue as the T20I captain, only for Kohli to come out and publicly deny those assertions to add even more spice to the incident.

During the traditional pre-departure press conference before the South Africa trip, Kohli said he was approached “one and a half hours before the selection meeting on the 8th of December for the Test series.

“There was absolutely no prior contact with me from the time I declared my T20I leadership choice until the eighth (of December), when, as I previously said, I received a phone call one and a half hours before the selection meeting.”

“The chief selector [Chetan Sharma] spoke with me about the Test team, which we both agreed on, and before the conversation ended, I was informed that the five selectors had decided that I would not be the ODI captain, to which I said, ‘okay, fine.’ And we had a short discussion about it on the selection call that followed. That’s exactly what occurred. No previous communication had taken place,” Kohli stated.

It was in direct contrast to Ganguly’s remark made less than a week before. “We had begged Virat not to stand down as T20 captain, but he did not want to remain as captain,” Ganguly said to media on December 9. “Therefore, the selectors determined that they could not have two white-ball captains in the same two white-ball versions. That is an excessive amount of leadership,” Ganguly said.

What next with regards to this huge saga that just won’t seem to die down?

The surfacing of stories indicating that his dismissal has been on the board’s mind for a far longer period, on the other hand, is just another twist in the already lengthy number of turns that this tale has thrown at us all. The main idea behind the whole thing is to ensure that Team India performs well.

The Indian cricket team will be keen on making a move and looking forward to the series against South Africa. That will be a great stepping stone for them with regards to the bright future ahead. If they can win the Test series and more, it will be a huge win for their morale and they will make history, the same way that they have been doing in recent years on their recent tours.

That is something that they will want to keep doing and build momentum in the days to come. It will be interesting to see how things develop now, with the change in leadership. Rohit Sharma will want to make a strong statement, as he takes charge of two formats of the game for the Indian team.