Sunil Gavaskar on Virat Kohli’s claims of a lack of communication in the leadership controversy
During a press conference, India’s former captain Sunil Gavaskar responded to Virat Kohli’s charges of a lack of communication amongst the team’s players. The former cricket player believes that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is the most qualified individual to resolve the current state of disarray. Kohli, India’s Test captain, spoke with the media ahead of the upcoming series against South Africa.
During the press conference, he addressed the captaincy controversy that has been consuming all of the attention recently. He believes that the BCCI never instructed Kohli to relinquish his position as team India’s T20I captain. It should be recalled, however, that Ganguly had previously said that he had personally begged Kohli not to resign from his position as Twenty20 captain, who was playing some good live cricket.
The story that got a lot of attention, with comments made by various shareholders of Indian cricket
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had stated that Rohit Sharma would take over as captain of the One-Day International team. He said that he was called up 90 minutes before the selection meeting on the 8th of December 2021 and that he had not been notified of the decision beforehand. There is a lot of confusion throughout the cricketing community as a result of this development.
As a result, Gavaskar believes that Ganguly should be confronted with the contradiction between what he stated and what Kohli said. He went on to say that maintaining a clear channel of communication is always beneficial.
There was a lot of talk in the media as well and the whole situation had imploded, to an extent. However, the series against South Africa was the perfect distraction. To add to that, Team India started off positively in the first Test match and won it with ease. This helped the cause as well.
The team is yet to win a series against the Proteas (on their home soil) and will want to change that this time around. They have done the hardwork in the first game but there are still a couple of matches left. Anything can happen in this series and skipper Virat Kohli was left out of the team from the second game due to a back spasm.
Opener and vice-captain for the series, KL Rahul stepped up as the skipper. Though it is still not certain whether King Kohli will be back for the final Test match or not, it seems that he should be available, with time still left to spare.
It is always beneficial to keep a clear channel of communication open: Sunil Gavaskar.
“I believe that (Kohli’s words) do not bring the BCCI into the situation at all. I believe it is the guy who needs to be questioned as to how he came to believe he had delivered such a message to Kohli in the first place. So that is the only thing I can think of. Yes, he is the president of the BCCI, and he should undoubtedly be questioned about the reason for the disparity. He is most likely the most qualified person to inquire about the apparent disparity between what you seem to have to say and what the Indian captain has said.”
“Yes, it is always beneficial to have a clear channel of communication to avoid rumours and conjecture. In light of what has occurred, there should be a clear channel of communication going forward, and the chairman of the selection committee should be able to come down and explain why he has been selected or why he has been sacked. Even though it is not required, a press release might be sufficient in certain situations as well,” Gavaskar stated.
According to Gavaskar, who further went on to add, “a decent press release that outlines all of the reasons makes life a whole lot simpler.”
Well, the absence of Virat Kohli has not helped the Indian side in the second game of the three-match Test series. Team India could end up losing the game, as it stands. With that being said, in case it happens, the situation will only further emphasize the presence of Virat Kohli as the captain in the longest format of the game.
