Former Pakistan captain and opening batter, Salman Butt has some very strong views on the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) decision to strip Virat Kohli of his captaincy duties. Butt slammed the BCCI after Chetan Sharma-led four-member selection committee relieved Kohli of leadership responsibility. He pointed at BCCI's inadequacy and defended Kohli's captaincy attributes, calling the maverick batter a quality captain.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt took a dig at BCCI saying that there was no valid reason to lay Kohli off as the skipper.
“When had they sacked Kohli? There was no valid reason for that. The reason was that he did not win an ICC trophy. How many captains have actually won the ICC trophy? Many have spent their entire career without it. Ab jeet liye (Have they won it now)? He was a quality captain. He wasn't the only reason why the team had lost. It is not that the team has drastically improved now. If it was all about winning then it's not that Dhoni can't play in the T20s. And how can you can for T20 World Cup? The format itself is so fickle and World Cups are happening so frequently and then you have various leagues going on in between. And above that if you have someone who is fit, ready to go and can lead you tactically then why not? Grooming can happen in bigger formats as well. But again it's all about their mindset,” he said.
A year ago Kohli was stripped from captaincy, shortly after he had made a bombshell announcement of stepping down as the T20I captain. The reason for the removal from the post is believed to have been due to a trophy-less tenure that lasted for nearly four years. Kohli then made a final call on calling time on his captaincy from Test cricket too after the team had suffered a loss against the Proteas in South Africa 2-1. Since then Rohit Sharma has taken up the captaincy reins in all three formats. Rohit is hailed as the most successful IPL captain with five trophies however his recent stint at the Asia Cup where India crashed out from the super 4s and in the recent T20I World Cup, India got thrashed by England in the semi-final led to the talks of a new captain. Hardik Pandya is touted to be his next successor.
