The Kohli-Ganguly tiff shows what has not changed in Indian cricket. Smells like Chappell

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For perhaps for the first time in his 13-year career, Team India test captain Virat Kohli practically resigned from speaking about the game at Wednesday’s virtual pre-tour press conference and revealed the relationship between the captain and the board. Just days after BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had said in an interview he had spoken to Kohl and told him that voters did not want “too much leadership” because of the two skipper-shaped skippers, Kohli denied the head of government. , claimed that he had not been asked to remain a T20I skipper after he had decided to resign.

The decision to appoint Rohit Sharma as white ball captain to replace Kohl was buried at the end of a press release announcing the Indian test team to South Africa. The fact that such an important detail went almost as a footnote tells us what is wrong between the board and the captain. It has opened the carpet with conflicting statements from Ganguly and Kohl, now just the captain of the red ball. Posts Kohli is ThePrint’s weekly news reporter, which has focused on cricket management in general and government-captain relations in particular at his press conference.

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Kohli and Ganguly

What happened to Kohl has at least two precedents in the history of Indian cricket, both with Sunil Gavaskar. First, Gavaskar replaced Venkatraghavan as captain on the air when he returned from the 1979 English tour – the announcement came from the pilot. In 1984, Kapil Dev was replaced before the draw at Eden Gardens.

As Kohli highlighted the underlying tension between him and the office occupants, Ganguly refused to ignite the flames. The chairman of the BCCI said “no statements, no press conference” to the media on Thursday and asked to leave the matter to the government.

Kohli may not have been the perfect skipper as he has never won the ICC Limited Overrun trophy with his three attempts, but his ODI average of 72.65 (captain’s batting average) and his impeccable captain’s record in white ball cricket ensure transparency and clarity. communication. Or at least “thank you,” not like the one who went to Twitter as a late insight.

Under his leadership, India has played 95 ODI matches between 2018 and 2021, winning 65 of them. in terms of. In the shortest form, Kohli led the team in 50 T20I matches, winning 30 percent of them by 81.81.

Kohli, known largely for adhering to the script in media interaction and maintaining a “safety distance” to difficult issues other than Mohammad Sham’s trolling during the World Cup, betrayed his tradition and asked questions about the captain and relations with the board. It was almost as if the test captain had led the interaction in a certain direction.

Also read: India will sign the Kohli-Shastri era with disappointment without an ICC award

Ganguly vs Kohli

India’s best ODI striker on the ICC world list expressed his opinion at a press conference before the South African tour when he said he was never asked to continue as a T20 skipper. Kohli claimed that the cricket board took it “very well and it was taken as a progressive step, in the right direction.”

In an interview with the news agency PTI On December 9, the BCCI chief had said that when Kohli refused to remain a T20 skipper, a selection committee chaired by Chetan Sharma decided to hand over the ODI reins to Rohit because the national team could not afford “too much leadership” in two separate captains in the white ball cricket.

In his virtual speech, Kohli stressed that his communication to BCCI was “clear.” “Whatever was said about the communication that took place about the decision made was inaccurate,” he said, referring clearly to Ganguly’s statement.

“I was contacted an hour and a half before the selection meeting on December 8th for the test series and I was not contacted at all because I announced my decision as T20 captain … the general manager discussed the test team we both agreed on. , I am not the captain of the ODI, to which I replied “okay good”, he said as he told the course of events.

After Rohit was excluded from the Test series due to a thigh muscle injury, some media claimed Kohli had asked for a break, citing his daughter’s first birthday on January 11th. But Kohli put these speculations to rest before the South African tour, saying he was “and will always be available” for ODI’s selection.

Also read: Kohli has not made an official request for an ODI series in South Africa: BCCI official

Ghosts of the past

The irony of the Kohli-Ganguly-BCCI controversy is hard to ignore. The BCCI chief also happens to be a former skipper, rather the first almighty captain India saw.

In 2005, Ganguly stood where Kohli will be in 2021. He was expelled from the national team captain and eventually dropped out of the team as well.

His own confession to the Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin in 2020, Ganguly described that stage was the “biggest setback” of his cricket career and called his humiliation “absolute injustice.”

The former Indian skipper recalled the “hardest” stage of his career, and he had blamed then-head coach Greg Chappell, BCCI and a “leaked” letter.

He had stressed that the cricket team is like a “family” and differences of opinion, misunderstandings should be clarified through dialogue. “Everyone was involved in the plan to drop me off,” Ganguly had claimed.

India will play a series of three tests against South Africa 26. December at Centurion under Kohl. The three-match ODI series begins on January 19th. But right now cricket is not a buzzword, Kohli and the captain are.

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(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

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