Former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar feels the entire episode involving Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly should have been handled more professionally by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Batting icon Kohli delivered an explosive press conference ahead of India’s tour of South Africa. The talismanic batter of the former world champions had stepped down as India’s captain in T20I cricket after the 2021 edition of the ICC World Cup.
While announcing the squad of the Indian team for the South Africa tour, the BCCI confirmed the appointment of Rohit as India’s full-time captain in white-ball formats. Kohli spoke at length about his removal from One Day International (ODI) captaincy and the former white-ball skipper also quashed the rumours of having an ‘alleged rift’ with Rohit in the pre-departure press conference.
Kohli also openly contradicted Ganguly’s remarks about the ex-skipper’s decision to step down as India’s captain. BCCI chief Ganguly had earlier revealed that the apex cricket board requested Kohli to not step down as India’s captain in T20Is. Speaking about the whole incident to Khaleej Times, former cricketer Vengsarkar said that Ganguly had no business to speak on behalf of the selectors.
“It’s very unfortunate, the whole thing. I think it should have been handled more professionally by the cricket board. The thing is that Ganguly had no business to speak on behalf of the selection committee. Ganguly is the president of BCCI. Any issue about selection or captaincy, it’s the chairman of the selection committee who should speak,” Vengsarkar said.
“Ganguly spoke about the whole thing, obviously Virat wanted to make his case clear. I believe it should have been between the chairman of the selection committee and the captain. A captain is selected or removed by the selection committee, that’s not Ganguly’s jurisdiction at all,” he added.
Kohli had also confirmed that he is available for selection and the former white-ball skipper will play the ODI series between India and hosts South Africa. According to Test skipper Kohli, his removal from ODI captaincy took place 90 minutes before the selectors announced the squad for the South Africa tour.
“Yes, things should change now. Kohli, you have to respect him, he has done so much for the country, so much for Indian cricket. But how they dealt with him, it must have definitely hurt him,” Vengsarkar concluded.
