Chief Selector vindicates Ganguly, reiterates concerns on Kohli's decision to quit T20I captaincy

There is no end in sight of the controversy surrounding the captaincy saga of Virat Kohli as the chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma has come forward to reiterate the point made by Sourav Ganguly that all stakeholders of the BCCI had asked him to reconsider his decision of stepping down as T20I captain.

Moreover, Mr Sharma went a step further and described Kohli’s decision as a “shock” for the selection committee, who was of the view that his announcement right before the T20 World Cup would impact the performance of players and hence the issue should have been dealt with after the conclusion of the world cup.

"When the meeting started, it was a surprise for everybody," Chetan Sharma said in a virtual press interaction after announcing the squad for the tour of South Africa. "Because the World Cup is upon you and you hear this news, what will be the reaction of a normal person? Everyone who was present in the meeting asked him to reconsider, to rethink; 'we can talk about this after the World Cup'. All the selectors felt this could affect the performance in the World Cup. It was told to Virat for the sake of Indian cricket to please continue as captain.

"It was told to him by everybody available in the meeting. All convenors were there, board officials were there. Everybody said that. Who will not say that when you hear such a news? You will be in shock. What will be your instant reaction? It was a matter of the World Cup. We thought let's talk after the World Cup. We told Virat the World Cup is upon us, and everybody requested let's talk after the World Cup.

"But he has his plans. We have to respect his decision. If someone has taken a decision, and he said in the media also, that he was thinking [along these lines] from the time of WTC, but at that time everybody told him to think about it."

Notably, the BCCI President Ganguly had raked a controversy by saying that he had personally asked Kohli to reconsider his decision and was subsequently told that otherwise his ODI captaincy will also be taken away.

Later, after Ganguly’s assertion, Kohli came out in public and refuted all the claims made by saying he wasn’t told anything of that sort and rather he claimed that all “office bearers” took his decision in a good way and commended him for taking a “progressive move.”

Kohli should address a press conference on the eve of the second Test match against South Africa starting January 03 and most definitely, he will be confronted with another set of questions pertaining to his decision that ended his captaincy tenure in white-ball formats.