‘Yeh saab chhodo aur World Cup pe focus karo’ – Fans react as Sourav Ganguly says Indian cricket board was unprepared for Test captaincy post Virat Kohli’s departure
India lost the World Test Championship final to Australia by 209 runs.
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Jun 13, 2023 11:23 am
Virat Kohli (Source: Twitter)
After India lost to Australia in the World Test Championship final by 209 runs at the Oval, Sourav Ganguly had a bizarre statement regarding the present state of Indian cricket. Ganguly further said that the Indian cricket board was not prepared for Kohli’s departure from Test cricket. He also said it was Kohli’s own decision to relinquish Test captaincy. The former Indian Cricket Board president’s comment came after many questioned Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and said Kohli should get back the top job.
Ganguly said at that point in time, the Indian Cricket Board felt that Rohit Sharma was the best candidate to fill in for Kohli in terms of captaincy. “Indian Cricket Board were not prepared for Virat Kohli leaving the Test captaincy. It was unexpected for us also after the South Africa tour. Only Virat Kohli can reveal why he left the captaincy. There is no point talking about this now because Virat Kohli left the Test captaincy. Selectors had to appoint an India captain. And Rohit was the best option at that time,” Sourav Ganguly told Aaj Tak.
Kohli and Ganguly had a bitter feud in Indian Premier League 2023
However, this contradicts some earlier reports where Virat Kohli said he was told 1.5 hours before the team’s selection to South Africa that he was being removed as ODI captain. His removal took place in the same tour in December after Kohli had resigned from T20I captaincy just before the World Cup in October 2022 in Australia. When it came to the Test captaincy, he stepped down from the role after India’s Test series loss against South Africa.
Kohli and Ganguly had a feud in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 where Kohli gave a death stare at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore when Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals (DC). Then, the two appeared to cool down in the reverse fixture which was held at the Arun Jaitley stadium where the two shook hands and had a chat. Ganguly represented DC as Director of Cricket.
There is no way that Ganguly can justify his actions for the politics he played by putting his ego ahead of our country! Ppl might forgive you for this but this will haunt you internally till the end! We saw lowest of lows under you! Full strength squad lost against Bangladesh!
If you compare the performances of our fast bowlers before Virat, under his captaincy and after that, you cen see the clear difference. He had made the Indian fast bowlers one of the the best bowling attacks in Tests in the world, which now looks very ordinary. pic.twitter.com/wl8Tez9Cf1
What’s to be underlined, Rohit Sharma was captioned as the best tactician with over 5 IPL cups and so on by a whole range of experts. He has clearly proven since taking over captaincy that winning IPL titles can never be equated with ICC titles – Fact!
"We insulted and humiliated one of the biggest cricketers in our country, sacked him disrespectfully as Captain when he had done brilliant things for us, and when he decided he did not want to be insulted anymore, we were not ready for it."
