Virat Kohli spills the beans: The Indian captain has highlighted a lack of communication with respect to his white-ball demotion.
Advertisement
India Test captain Virat Kohli believes that nothing can derail him from “being motivated to play for India” despite “not ideal” things happening on the outside. Kohli, who is a vital cog in the wheel in the Indian team across formats, is keen to contribute with the bat as a specialist batter in the white-ball formats after more than a decade-and-a-half.
“Batting, of course, when you have done this for a long time at the international level, you know how to perform. Nothing can derail me from playing for India. Nothing can derail me from being motivated to play for India,” Kohli told reporters in a virtual press conference in Mumbai before departing for South Africa.
“Lot of things that happen outside are not ideal but you have to do things in your control. I am mentally prepared and excited to do well in South Africa.”
Kohli, who had recently been removed as India’s ODI captain, was unequivocally the centre of attraction after reports of him opting to miss the ODI series in South Africa next month. With Kohli confirming his availability for the ODI series, rumours have been put to rest to bring some clarity to the forefront.
Virat Kohli spills the beans regarding captaincy conversation with chief selector
As far as the speculation around his white-ball demotion is concerned, Kohli had himself announced stepping down as T20I captain three months ago.
If former India captain and current BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) President Sourav Ganguly is to be believed, Kohli was adviced to not step down from T20I captaincy as it might affect the prospects of him leading the ODI side as well. Kohli, who didn’t agree (according to Ganguly), spilled the beans today highlighting a lack of communication between him and the BCCI.
“I was contacted one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting on the eighth [December] for the Test series [vs South Africa]. There was no prior communication to me at all since I announced the T20I captaincy decision until the eighth of December, where I got a call before the selection meeting.
“The chief selector [Chetan Sharma] discussed with me the Test team, to which we both agreed. And before ending the call, I was told the five selectors have decided I will not be the ODI captain, to which I replied, ‘okay, fine’, and in the selection call afterwards, we chatted about it briefly. That’s what happened. There was no communication prior to that at all,” Kohli mentioned.
While a lot of confusion had been built in the absence of official statements from either of the two parties, Kohli putting forward his side of the story has lessened the value (to a large extent) of Ganguly’s previous statement.
