Removal of Kohli from ODI captaincy was collective decision, says BCCI source
Courtesy
|| CF DESK ||
On Wednesday, before India's departure for South Africa, Virat Kohli's dramatic pre-tour press conference grabbed the cricket world by storm.
This was the first time Kohli had spoken publicly about the ruckus in the Indian dressing room over the past week. Kohli was recently relieved of his ODI captaincy and replaced by Rohit Sharma as India's limited-overs captain.
Virat Kohli claimed during the press conference that he was not informed about his departure from the ODI captaincy by the BCCI before the decision was made.
According to Kohli, he learned about the decision only after the Indian Test team's roster selection was completed. Kohli also revealed that the BCCI did not object to his choice to step down as T20I captain, contradicting previous assertions made by board president Sourav Ganguly.
However, it has now been revealed that Kohli's dismissal was the result of a unanimous decision by the cricket governing body. According to a BCCI source, major decisions like captaincy are always made by the board as a whole, rather than by a single BCCI officer, revealed in Indian media.
“How can Virat say we didn’t talk to him? We talked to him in September. I requested not to leave the captaincy of T20. But once the decision was made, it was not possible to have two captains in white-ball cricket,” said the source.
"Chief selector Chetan Sharma informed Kohli on the morning of the team selection meeting that he was no longer the captain."
The BCCI source went on to say that selectors are the main decision-makers in such cases, and that a decision is reached once a consensus is reached. The insider went on to explain that important office bearers have a say in matters as well, but that the decision to replace the captaincy is always made after a board meeting.
