In what was a much-anticipated press conference, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli cleared air on the recent rumours that have been floating around. The 33-year-old was ousted as the captain of Indian men’s ODI team recently, shortly after which it was being speculated that he will not be available for selection.
When questions were raised about his apparent non-availability for the ODI series against South Africa, Kohli said that he was never keeping himself unavailable. He also pointed out that the journalists and their sources were wrong with their writings and also brushed off rumours that he was at an event.
Citing the biggest of all the rumours that have made rounds that Kohli was adamant to not step down from ODI captaincy, he mentioned that he was never communicated about the change. He added that it was a logical choice from a board’s point of view, and will be respectful to it.
“At the end of the selection call, I was told I won’t be the captain and I said okay. After the meeting we had a brief chat and that’s it. I was not communicated at all (about the captaincy change).
There is no rift between me and Rohit. I have been saying this for the last two and a half years. I am tired of having to clear this up but there is absolutely no problem between me and Rohit. I will never want or do anything that brings the team down in any way possible.”
he said.
After Kohli was made to quit captaincy in ODIs, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had mentioned that he had asked the Indian skipper to not quit captaincy in T20Is. But contrary to what the former Indian captain said, Virat revealed that no one asked him to quit captaincy in any format.
Kohli was made captain of the ODI setup permanently in 2017, after working as MS Dhoni’s deputy for a while. He finished his captaincy stint with a win percentage of over 70, but the lack of trophies after a semi-final and a final defeat were always threatening to take his role away.
