Was Virat Kohli not kept in loop before making Rohit Sharma ODI skipper? Sourav Ganguly BREAKS silence

The sacking of Virat Kohli as the ODI skipper and him getting replaced by batter Rohit Sharma has gained mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. With many even unhappy with the way the whole process took place, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly broke his silence and spoke about what exactly happened for the management to come to such a decision.

A day after Virat Kohli was replaced as the ODI captain, Ganguly revealed that the batter’s reluctance to continue as the T20I captain compelled selectors to hand the white-ball leadership to Rohit Sharma.

Ganguly told the Times of India, “The board and selectors had asked Virat to rethink his decision to quit T20 captaincy. He had declined the suggestion at the time. The selectors were uncomfortable with the idea of having two captains for white-ball cricket”.

It is to be noted that Kohli, while stepping down as the T20I skipper had said he needed space to lead India in both ODI and Test cricket. However, the board had other ideas.

“There’s no doubt over his Test captaincy. He has done well even as an ODI captain. But it was not going to be easy to have two captains in white-ball cricket with two World Cups (one T20I and one in ODI) in two years. The selectors felt the team needed one vision and varied styles of captaincy could disrupt the planning,” Ganguly said.

However, the one question that was stuck in everyone’s mind was if Kohli was infirmed about the change in captaincy and Ganguly clarified saying he was kept in the loop.

“The chairman of the selection committee Chetan Sharma and I spoke to him. The picture was made clear to him…we explained the vision to him. He understood the situation and it was only then that Rohit was named the captain of the ODI team. The captain has been announced before the ODI team has been picked so that the new captain can also be part of the selection process,” he said.