Xtra Time Web Desk: Former India captain and ex-BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has reiterated that he played no part in the removal of Virat Kohli as the captain of the Indian cricket team. The entire episode of Virat Kohli’s removal from captaincy sparked controversy, especially surrounding the way it unfolded. Kohli initially decided to step down from the T20 captaincy, but according to Ganguly he persuaded Kohli to reconsider his decision. When Kohli stuck to his decision to leave T20 captaincy, then Sourav suggested him to lead only the red ball format which perhaps did not go down well with Virat.
The clarification from Ganguly aims to address the speculation and ensure transparency in the leadership changes within the Indian cricket setup. The controversy surrounding Kohli’s departure as captain has been a talking point in cricket circles, with fans keen to understand the dynamics that influenced this significant decision.
“I didn’t remove Virat from captaincy. I have said this several times. He (Kohli) was not interested to lead in T20Is. So, after he made that decision, I told him, if you’re not interested to lead in T20Is, it’s better if you step down from entire white-ball cricket formats. Let there be a white-ball captain and a red-ball captain,” Sourav Ganguly said on the reality show Dadagiri.
Talking about handing over the captaincy to Rohit Sharma, Ganguly said, “I pushed Rohit Sharma a bit to take up the captaincy role because he wasn’t interested to lead in all three formats of the game. So, maybe I have a bit of contribution in that but no matter who is the administrator, it’s the players who perform well on the field. No body from outside can contribute much.”