Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has given his take on Virat Kohli’s controversial claims in the pre-South Africa tour press conference where he denied that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly had urged him not to quit T20I captaincy.
Gavaskar believes that Ganguly is the best person to clarify the discrepancy after what Kohli had told the media in his first presser since getting sacked as ODI captain.
"I think it (Kohli’s comments) actually doesn’t bring the BCCI into the picture. I think it’s the individual who has to be asked where he got the impression he had conveyed such a message to Kohli. So that’s the only thing. Yes, he is the BCCI president and surely he should be asked why there is this discrepancy. He is probably the best person to ask about the discrepancy in what you seem to have to say and what the Indian captain has said," Sunil Gavaskar told India Today.
The 33-year-old said that he was told about the sacking an hour and a half before the announcement. BCCI mentioned the major news along with the announcement of 18-man squad for Test series in South Africa. He also revealed that the decision to relinquish T20I captaincy was very well received by the board, contrary to what the BCCI President had told ANI in an interview.
"Yes, it always helps to have a clear line of communication so that there is no speculation. So from now, from what has happened, there should be a clear line of communication and the chairman of the selection committee can come down and say why he has been picked and why he has not been picked. Sometimes, even if that is not needed, a press release is also good enough. A good press release giving all the reasons makes life a lot easier," Gavaskar added.
"As long as it’s not something that he has not found out from the media or as it happened in the past that the commander of a passenger flight announced it, I think he has been told by the chairman of the selection committee that he is not going to be the captain, I think that is absolutely okay," Gavaskar further said.
"I don’t know what these people wanted to do. As long as there has been communication between the chairman of selection and him, it’s the decent thing to do. Over there, what the conversation was, I am not aware. Maybe the chairman of the selection committee also said ‘thank you so much," Gavaskar concluded.
BCCI is yet to respond to Kohli’s comments in official capacity whereas an official from board told India Today dismissed Kohli’s claims of lack of communication saying that he was kept in loop.
