‘I Was Informed 1.5 Hours Ago That I’m No More The ODI Captain Of India’: Virat Kohli
‘I Was Informed 1.5 Hours Ago That I’m No More The ODI Captain Of India’: Virat Kohli
Former all format Indian cricket team captain and current Indian Test cricket team captain Virat Kohli was recently removed from the ODI captaincy of the game without any notice. Last week without any press conference or any other official declaration by direct statements of the office bearers or board members of The Board of Control for Cricket in India, popularly known as BCCI.
The official announcement was made on the social media pages of the Indian cricket team while declaring the new One-Day-Internationals (ODI) squad ahead of India’s tour of South Africa from 2021 to 2022. The post included the complete squad of cricketers who were to visit South Africa for India’s next tour. The post mentioned Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain replacing Virat Kohli.
The post of the Indian cricket team created havoc in the hearts of all cricket fans, be it or be it not with the hearts of ardent fans and supporters.
After days of silence, Virat Kohli finally broke his silence on the issue and held a virtual press conference with journalists on how he was sacked as India’s One-Day-Internationals (ODI) Captain.
The decision was taken months after Virat Kohli stepped down as the T20 internationals captain of India for personal reasons. Poster ICC T20 World Cup held from 17th October to 14th November in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The cricketer explained his reasons for stepping down as the captain of one of the most important, filled with tons of personal and professional responsibilities, and focused more on his game.
After stepping down as the T20 captain, the cricketer also called it quits from the captaincy of the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, the only franchise he has been part of in his entire Indian Premier League (IPL) career.
Ever since the decision of The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) came out, all the Indian cricket fans and former players, and cricket professionals have had their viewpoints and opinions about the same.
One official statement came days before this decision took place, which came from the President of The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and The former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. The former cricketer said that he had personally asked Vir
at not to step down as the T20 captain of India, But he was pretty clear at his stand.
Virat completely disagreed with the statement. The virtual press conference said that Play the statement has no reality as his stand was well understood, and not even once was he asked by any board member not to step down as the T20 captain of India.
After declaring Rohit Sharma as a new ODI captain, Sourav Ganguly also released that the office bearers and selectors did not want to fight all captains for the Indian cricket team.
Are many cricket officials and fans also raised a question on Ganguly’s this statement since the women’s Indian cricket team also has two white ball captains, with Mithali Raj as the One-Day-Internationals (ODI) and red ball women’s Indian cricket team captain and Harmanpreet Kaur as the women’s T20 Indian captain.
In the latest virtual press conference, Virat said that there might be a logical explanation for this decision since the Indian team under his captaincy could not find a spot as the winner in any ICC tournament. This humble statement, yet filled with many emotions of Indian cricket fans, took all of them on an emotional rollercoaster ride to all the matches where India lost in the finals and semi-finals of prior ICC tournaments.
Virat also put forward the reality of action before the shocking decision was broken down to him, and he said that he was contacted just 1.5 hours ago on 8th December 2021, before the selection meeting for the South Africa tour of India took place for the Test series. The board members did no prior communication with him about the selectors before this statement ever since the ‘king of cricket’ stepped down as the T20 captain.
As the red ball captain of India, Virat and the chief selectors decided on a common team for the test tour, and just before ending the call, he was informed by the chief selector that he would no longer be the one-day international captain of India.
Taken by shock, the cricketer could say okay fine to the selectors but then had a brief chat with them after the call.
Ending the rumors, the cricketer also clearly stated his commitment and responsibilities towards the team and his game and claimed that he is and will always be available for selection and before spreading rumors, people should always come up with credible sources regarding the information as he will always look forward to playing for ODI matches.
The cricketer has always shown a great sense of sportsmanship and sportsman spirit and said in the virtual press conference to support Rohit Sharma as the new white-ball captain of India.
edited and proofread by: nikita sharma
