KOHLI VS BCCI: What really happened

The last few weeks have been full of commotion for Indian cricket. The sports section of every newspaper or website was full of reports claiming different possibilities. Some said Virat Kohli isn’t willing to play the ODIs in South Africa while a few stated that there is a rift going on between him and Rohit Sharma. Amid all these ‘source-based’ reports, the BCCI dropped a bombshell on December 8. At 7:15 PM, the board announced the squad for the South Africa tour on social media with Rohit Sharma being named as the vice-captain.

A minute later, the BCCI revealed the biggest surprise and it was sacking Virat as the ODI captain, handing the responsibility to Rohit. This is how things have transpired: Kohli decided he wanted to give up T20I captaincy because of workload issues. We were later told by the BCCI that they didn’t want that to happen. Following India’s exit from the T20 World Cup, the selectors decided they didn’t want two white-ball captains.

They gave ODI captaincy as well to Rohit Sharma and announced the decision with a one-line statement without giving any reasons. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly then weighed in on the issue after a day and said they had asked Kohli to not step down as the T20I skipper. The selectors chose to stay silent – as they almost always do. There were reports that Kohli was given 48 hours to take a call. There were some reports of a clash between Kohli and the selectors. There was some talk about a dressing room rift.

All of these reports were attributed to sources in the BCCI. Nothing official. No one, on record, stating anything categorically. The BCCI, on its part, surely would have known that their silence would lead to more speculation. But they watched the drama unfold while making no official statement in the hours after announcing the change in captaincy. Reporters, of course, had to start contacting their sources in the BCCI and pushing out articles in the absence of a proper statement. No one is surprised anymore, because almost every BCCI development these days is conveyed to us first through a source.

Anyone who said that Ganguly will bring the understanding of a player, a former captain, to his job as BCCI president will perhaps now be itching to take that statement back. Because all we now see is an administrator who wants nothing more than to stay in the job. If we didn’t already have enough proof with how the BCCI handled domestic and women’s cricket, then his handling of the current mess is the cherry on top. Reform and transparency seem like distant thoughts as far as the BCCI is concerned now.

If you thought Kohli’s comments will help bring closure, as soon as the presser ended, we were told by various people, through BCCI sources, that this is not the end. It just seems woefully apt. I personally felt that Virat Kohli should not have been replaced from the one-day captaincy. Rohit Sharma would bring upon positive energy among the players and he is a cool minded player. We all know how dangerous he is with the bat, but he has a unbreakable record in the T20 League which would help Indian Cricket a lot.

It always helps to have a clear set of information and in this case there is a sort of misunderstanding among Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli. There should be a clear line of communication and the chairman of the selection committee should tell the players “why he is not picked up in the side”. Virat Kohli is available in the upcoming One-day Series against South Africa as there were saying that he would miss the One-Day Internationals.