Indian Cricket team underwent a huge controversy in 2022 when Virat Kohli left Test Captaincy. The situation in which Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy has left a lot of questions unanswered in the minds of cricket fans. Kohli further announced that he will step down as T20I captain before the World Cup 2022. But what came as a shocking move was Kohli stepping down from all formats of Captaincy after the conclusion of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. At the time when Kohli stepped down from Captaincy, Ganguly was serving as BCCI President. Several reports claimed that Sourav Ganguly played a role in Kohli stepping down from Captaincy of all three formats.
But after a year, Ganguly has finally come up with his answer about his involvement in Kohli’s decision to step down from captaincy.
What did Ganguly say above Virat Kohli stepping down from Captaincy?
Talking about his role in Virat Kohli stepping down from captaincy Ganguly said that he has cleared it several times that he didn’t remove Kohli from Captaincy. He said that Virat was not interested in leading in t20is. So after he decided to quit the T20I captaincy Ganguly asked him to step down from the ODI captaincy as well so that there would be two captains in place one for white ball format & the other for red ball format.
Ganguly further said that he pushed Rohit Sharma to take up the captaincy role in the white ball format because he wasn’t interested in leading the team in all three formats of the game. But he also emphasized that no matter who is administrating the team it’s the players who have to perform on the field & no outside personnel can contribute to the success of the team.
“I was appointed as the President of BCCI to work for the betterment of Indian cricket, this is a small part of it.”
After Kohli resigned from T20I & ODI Captaincy it was never thought that he would also step down from Test captaincy. However, after the India tour of South Africa in 2022, he left red ball captaincy as well & Rohit was the one who took the responsibility.
What did Virat Kohli say at the time of stepping down from Captaincy?
After seven years of dedicated hard work, relentless perseverance, and daily toil to steer the team in the right direction, I find myself at a point where I believe it’s time for a change. Serving as the Test captain of India has been a journey filled with both highs and lows, but I’ve approached it with unwavering honesty and commitment. In every step, I’ve given my absolute best, putting in 120 percent effort, and if I couldn’t do that, I knew it wasn’t the right path for me. Clarity in my heart is paramount, and I cannot be anything but honest with my team,” expressed Kohli in his statement at that time.
He further thanked the BCCI for allowing him to lead India for such a long period. He also thanked his teammates for supporting him during his captaincy tenure & Head Coach Ravi for extending his support to Kohli & team which helped India’s Test team to reap the fruits of success. He also thanked former India Captain MS Dhoni for believing in Kohli & handing him the reins of the Indian cricket team.
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