Kohli-Ganguly tiff shows what hasn’t changed about Indian cricket. Smells like Chappell era
Newsmaker of the Week

Kohli-Ganguly tiff shows what hasn’t changed about Indian cricket. Smells like Chappell era

Back in 2005, Ganguly was standing where Kohli is in 2021. He was sacked as the captain of the national squad and eventually dropped from the team.

   
Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli | ANI File Photo

Indian Test cricket team captain Virat Kohli | ANI File Photo

For the first time, perhaps, in his 13-year-long career, Team India’s Test captain Virat Kohli broke away from the de-facto protocol of talking about the game during the virtual pre-tour press conference Wednesday and laid bare the cracks in captain-board relations. Just days after BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had said in an interview that he had spoken to Kohli and told him that the selectors didn’t want “too much of leadership” due to two skippers in the white-ball format, Kohli contradicted the board chief, claiming he was not asked to remain T20I skipper when he had decided to step down.

The decision to appoint Rohit Sharma as the white-ball skipper, replacing Kohli, was buried at the end of a press release announcing India’s Test squad for South Africa. That a detail so important went almost as a footnote tells what’s wrong between the board and the captain. It has opened a can of worms with contradicting statements by Ganguly and Kohli, now just the red-ball captain. For bringing the focus back on cricket administration in general and board-captain relations in particular with his press conference, Virat Kohli is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.


Also read: SubscriberWrites:The Ravi Shashtri-Virat Kohli era redefined Indian cricket


Kohli and Ganguly

What’s happened with Kohli has at least two precedents in the history of Indian cricket, both involving Sunil Gavaskar. In the first instance, Gavaskar replaced Venkatraghavan as the captain mid-air, on the way back from the 1979 England tour—the announcement came from the pilot. In 1984, it was Kapil Dev who was replaced before a draw at Eden Gardens.

After Kohli highlighted the underlying tension between him and the office-bearers, Ganguly refused to fan the flames. The BCCI president said “no statements, no press conference” to the media Thursday and asked to leave the matter to the board to handle.

Kohli may not have been the perfect skipper, never having won an ICC limited-overs trophy in his three attempts, but his ODI average of 72.65 (batting average for a captain) and his impeccable captaincy record in white-ball cricket warrant transparency and clear communication. Or at least a ‘thank you’ note, not like the one that went on Twitter as late realisation.

India has played 95 ODI matches under his leadership from 2018 to 2021 and won 65 of those. He fares higher than his predecessors — M.S. Dhoni (59.52 per cent) and Sourav Ganguly (53.90 per cent) — with a winning percentage of 70.43 in the 50-over format. In the shortest format, Kohli led the team in 50 T20I matches and won 30 of them with a winning percentage of 81.81.

Kohli, largely known for sticking to the script at media interactions and maintaining a ‘safe’ distance from difficult questions, barring the one on Mohammad Shami’s trolling during the World Cup, betrayed his tradition and entertained questions on captaincy and relations with the board. It was almost as if the Test captain was leading the interaction in a specific direction.


Also read: India sign off Kohli-Shastri era disappointingly, without an ICC trophy


Ganguly vs Kohli

India’s top ODI batsman in the ICC world ranking spoke his mind during the press briefing ahead of the South Africa tour, when he said he was never asked to continue as T20 skipper. Kohli claimed that the cricket board received it “very well and it was taken as a progressive step, in the right direction”.

In an interview with the news agency PTI on 9 December, the BCCI chief had said that once Kohli refused to stay on as the T20 skipper, the Chetan Sharma-led selector committee decided to hand the ODI reins to Rohit as the national squad couldn’t afford “too much leadership” with two separate captains in the white-ball cricket.

During his virtual presser, Kohli emphasised that his communication to the BCCI was “clear”. “Whatever was said about the communication that happened about the decision that was made was inaccurate,” he said in an obvious reference to Ganguly’s statement.

“I was contacted one and half hours before selection meeting on 8th (December) for Test series and there was no prior communication to me at all since I announced my decision on T20 captaincy…the chief selector discussed the Test team to which we both agreed. Before ending the call, I was told that the five selectors have decided that I will not be the ODI captain to which I replied ‘okay fine’,” he said as he narrated the sequence of events.

After Rohit was ruled out of the Test series due to hamstring injury, some media reports claimed that Kohli had asked for a break citing his daughter’s first birthday on 11 January. But Kohli put those speculations to rest ahead of the South Africa tour, saying that he “was and is always available” for the selection for ODIs.


Also read: Kohli has made no official request for break from ODI series in South Africa: BCCI official


Ghosts of the past

It is hard to miss the irony of the Kohli-Ganguly-BCCI controversy. The BCCI chief also happens to be the former skipper, rather the first all-powerful captain India witnessed.

Back in 2005, Ganguly was standing where Kohli is in 2021. He was sacked as the captain of the national squad and eventually dropped from the team too.

By his own admission to Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin in 2020, Ganguly described the said phase as the “biggest setback” in his cricketing career and termed his demotion as an “absolute injustice”.

Recalling the “most difficult” phase of his career, the former Indian skipper had blamed the then head coach Greg Chappell, the BCCI, and a ‘leaked’ letter.

He had stressed on a cricket team to be like a “family” and the differences of opinions, misunderstanding should be sorted out with dialogue. “Everyone was involved in the scheme to drop me,” Ganguly had claimed.

India will play a three-Test series against South Africa starting 26 December in Centurion under Kohli’s leadership. The three-match ODI series will kick off on 19 January. But right now, cricket is not the buzzword, Kohli and captaincy are.

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(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)