Virat Kohli and The BCCI Conflict Saga: A Timeline
Ever since King Kohli has announced vital statements regarding the change of his responsibilities in the game by stepping down as the captain of T20 international is of India, A conflict of interest has risen ever since between the all format Indian cricket team captain and the Board of control for cricket in India or popularly known as the BCCI.
Here is a timeline of all the events that took place in the conflict.
1. 16th September 2021 – While the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League was in full swing, a shocking statement turned up from the captain of India, Virat Kohli. As the legendary player decided to resign as the T-20 international captain of India after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 which was to be held just three days after the IPL league was to be over in the same venue of United Arab Emirates.
The cricketer took this decision as he was filled up with a high load of personal as well as professional responsibilities and was keenly looking forward to focusing more on his game. The country was taken aback by this highly unexpected decision but the captain was also backed by many supporters as the cricketer looks forward to bettering his form in the upcoming innings.
2. 19th September 2021 – Just three days after King Kohli also decided to step down as the captain of the popular IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Although in the same announcement the cricketer also said that he will continue to play for the same franchise as he has done before ever since the IPL began in the year 2008.
The team management of the franchise understood Kohli‘s emotion towards the franchise and decided to retain him ahead of the upcoming mega auctions for the 15th edition of IPL.
3. 7th November 2021 – Despite having one league match to spare, India could not qualify for the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup and was knocked out of the tournament.
4. 8th November 2021 – After playing all the league matches India could not qualify for the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup and was knocked out of the tournament with Virat‘s last match against Namibia as the captain of India’s T20 internationals team.
5. 9th November 2021 – Virat Kohli has rested ahead of New Zealand’s Tour of India as the cricketer had been on the field continuously since the ICC World Test Championship that was held in England on 18 June 2021.
6. 5th December 2021 – Rohit Sharma in an interview appreciated and praised Virat as a captain as well as a player and that his contribution has been time and again crucial for the Indian cricket team no matter what format as he has brought out the team in a beautiful way by beating out difficult matches and playing an essential knock under challenging situations and standing by the team.
He also went on to call Virat still the ‘Leader’ of the Indian cricket team despite him stepping down as the T20 internationals captain.
7. 8th December 2021 – Without any prior communication with the cricketer who has been a Match-winner for numerous matches and has brought out the country from tough situations, he was replaced as the one-day international captain of India by Rohit Sharma.
BCCI did the announcement through the social media platforms by the official page of the Indian cricket team wherein the squad for the South Africa tour was announced and Rohit Sharma was named captain instead of Virat Kohli.
8. 9th December 2021 – With numerous amount of rumors and statements going viral on social media and news channels and websites Sourav Ganguly came up with an official statement claiming that he requested Virat not to step down as the T20 captain and that the decision was taken by the chief selectors since they did not want to have two white ball captains for the Indian cricket team.
9. 13th December 2021 – Due to a hamstrings injury, Rohit Sharma stepped out of India’s tour of South Africa, while various rumors and fake reports revolve around the social media regarding the Run- machine Kohli missing out on the ODI series of South Africa.
10. 15th December 2021 – Virat Kohli Finally breaks his silence and after a long wait finally held a virtual Press conference.
To present his point of view and accurate statements regarding The treatment that was given to him by BCCI despite having the highest win percentage of 71% among all the Indian captains till now including the President of BCCI, Sourav Ganguly, among the rumors and reports presented over news websites and social media.
Even though it may seem like the conflict between the former all-format captain of India and the BCCI began ever since Virat decided to step down as the T20 captain but the credible resources and one of the chief board members have claimed that the stir among the two began in March 2021 when Virat did not want to drop Shikhar Dhawan from the ODIs and decided to bring back Ravichandran Ashwin for ICC T20world cup.
EDITED AND PROOFREAD BY NIKITA SHARMA
