Chief selector Chetan Sharma on December 31 said the selection panel asked Virat Kohli to reconsider the move to quit India’s T20I captaincy on the eve of the T20 World Cup.
Giving his side of the story in a year-end press conference where Sharma named India’s ODI squad for the series in South Africa, the former India pacer said the selectors were shocked to learn of Kohli’s decision and were collective in their push to make him reconsider his call.
Sharma said everyone present in the meeting, including the five-member selection committee as well as BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and board secretary Jay Shah, told Kohli to rethink his decision to quit the T20I captaincy, fearing also that it may work as a distraction for the World Cup.
“When the meeting started, it was a surprise for everybody. Because the World Cup is upon you and you hear this news, what will be the reaction of a normal person?
Everyone who was present in the meeting asked him to reconsider, to rethink; ‘we can talk about this after the World Cup’.”
Chetan said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“All the selectors felt this could affect the performance in the World Cup. It was told to Virat for the sake of Indian cricket to please continue as captain,”
he added.
Sharma’s remarks were in line with what Ganguly had also said when speculations of conflict between Kohli and the board were rife following selectors’ call to remove the great batter from ODI captaincy post. But in direct contrast to what Kohli himself said at the point of Test selection for the Proteas tour.
“I wasn’t told you don’t leave the T20 captaincy. Instead, it was received well; I was told it’s a very progressive step and in the right direction,”
Kohli had said at his customary pre-tour presser.
In Virat’s version of the story, unlike what Sharma said, he was never asked to reconsider his call and was, in fact, encouraged after making a move to manage his workload.
But Sharma was firm in his stance and reinforced that the selectors and the BCCI regime never wanted Kohli to quit the T20I captaincy post and were shocked and didn’t want any distractions for the World Cup.
Sharma also said they asked Kohli to at least further delay the move that he was contemplating, as the chief selector revealed, since the World Test Championship final in June. However, Sharma also said they “respect” the skipper’s call.
Further clearing the air on the matter, Sharma said once Kohli relinquished his T20I leadership post, the selectors and the board agreed that there can’t be split captains in white-ball cricket and, thus, the decision to appoint Rohit was made. This decision, however, was conveyed to Kohli only 90 minutes before the selectors met to pick the squad for the Test series in South Africa.
When asked why Kohli wasn’t told that his ODI captaincy is no longer guaranteed at the point of his decision in T20Is, Sharma said since the T20 World Cup was going on, they didn’t want to discuss and put forth the issue with Kohli. They waited for the tournament to be over and made their decision, which Kohli had said he agreed with.
“If Virat told you about the T20 decision, would you be able to tell at that time that we want one or two captains. That wasn’t the right time to do it, we were in the middle of a World Cup.
The World Cup was upon us. We were only thinking that the decision should not affect us in the World Cup,”
he added.
