Sunil Gavaskar says Sourav Ganguly needs to clear air on Virat Kohli’s comments on captaincy issue

By PTI

NEW DELHI: The legendary Sunil Gavaskar feels Sourav Ganguly is the best person to clear the air on Virat Kohli’s contradictory statement on the issue of captaincy, saying the BCCI president “surely should be asked” how the difference in perception arose.

Days after Kohli quit T20I captaincy, Ganguly said that the BCCI had asked the superstar batter to reconsider his decision.

Kohli had, however, contradicted Ganguly’s statement during his explosive press conference on Wednesday ahead of departure for the South Africa Test series.

“I think it (Kohli’s comment) actually doesn’t bring the BCCI into the picture. I think it’s the individual who has to be asked where he got the impression he had conveyed such a message to Kohli. So, that’s the only thing,” Gavaskar told ‘India Today’.

“Yes, he (Ganguly) is the BCCI president and surely he should be asked why there is this discrepancy. He is probably the best person to ask about the discrepancy in what you seem to have to say and what the Indian captain has said,” he added.

Kohli’s comments had exposed the simmering tension between him and the BCCI officials after he was removed as ODI skipper as well earlier this month.

Kohli had said that he was told about his removal from ODI captaincy 90 minutes before the team’s selection for the South Africa tour but Gavaskar felt there was nothing wrong on the part of selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma on that count.

“What is the controversy here. As long as the chairman of selectors had told him clearly that we are not considering you for ODI captaincy now, that’s perfectly fine. It is the selectors who have complete authority in selection committee meetings. The captain is just a co-opted non-voting member,” Gavaskar said.

“As long as it’s not something that he (Kohli) has not found out from the media or as it happened in the past that the commander of a passenger flight announced it. I think he has been told by the chairman of the selection committee that he is not going to be the captain, I think that is absolutely okay,” Gavaskar said.

“I don’t know what these people wanted to do. As long as there has been communication between the chairman of the selection committee and him, it’s the decent thing to do,” he added.

Gavaskar pointed out that it is time the BCCI starts clear channels of communication to avoid any such fiasco in the future.

“Yes, it always helps to have a clear line of communication so that there is no speculation.

So from now, from what has happened, there should be a clear line of communication and the chairman of the selection committee can come down and say why he has been picked and why he has not been picked.

“Sometimes, even if that is not needed, a press release is also good enough. A good press release giving all the reasons makes life a lot easier,” the former captain said.