Days after Virat Kohli openly contradicted Sourav Ganguly’s remarks in his explosive press conference prior to the South Africa Test series, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has opted to wade into the captaincy saga which has sparked a huge controversy in Indian cricket. From speaking about his removal as One Day International (ODI) captain to quashing rumours of having an alleged rift with Rohit Sharma, Test skipper Kohli answered several burning questions in his fiery pre-departure press conference.
Speaking exclusively to Times Now before the start of India’s first away Test assignment under coach Rahul Dravid, former Indian batter Manjrekar opined that the whole episode involving Ganguly and Kohli should have been handled more professionally. The ex-cricketer and full-time cricket pundit said that Kohli was rattled with the news and the former white-ball skipper wanted to get something off his chest when he chaired the press conference ahead of the South Africa series.
“Three different captains for three formats is not an ideal scenario but if you are left with no choice and that’s gonna get the best out of the three teams, then so be it. The one very important member of the Indian cricket administration is a guy who doesn’t quite get the attention that he deserves. And that’s the chairman of selectors,” Manjrekar told
“So I don’t know why there should have been a conversation publicly or any statement given by the president of the BCCI when really it is the job of the chairman of the selection committee,” he added. Manjrekar then recalled the incident when Cricket Australia opted to drop former skipper Ricky Ponting from the Australian squad.
Manjrekar’s remarks have come a day after former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar suggested that Ganguly had no business to speak on behalf of the selection committee. The BCCI president earlier revealed that Kohli’s decision to not reconsider giving up T20I captaincy had paved the way for the selectors to appoint Rohit as white-ball captain of the Indian team.
“Miscommunications and all the misunderstandings, everything has been happening over the years. It should have been the chairman of the selection committee versus Virat Kohli. That would have been the right way to go about it. That would have been a more professional exterior,” Manjrekar added.
