It came as a shock to all the cricket lovers in India when Virat Kohli, one of the most successful Test captains announced his decision to step down as India’s Test captain on Saturday through social media. It is no secret that Kohli’s relationship with the BCCI had strained after the former skipper delivered an explosive press conference ahead of the South Africa tour earlier this year in which he openly countered some of the comments made by Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly amidst raging controversy over the board’s decision to replace him with Rohit Sharma as the One Day International (ODI) captain.
Celebrity cricketer and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has expressed that Virat Kohli was on the verge of getting fired by the BCCI had he decided not to resign as the captain of the Indian Test cricket team after suffering a 1-2 loss against South Africa this month. Speaking to media Gavaskar did not take long to speculate that the Indian cricket board was already on its way to take away Kohli’s position as the leader of the red-ball (Test cricket) squad because the board officials are unlikely to forget overseas losses.
Reactions poured in from all corners of the cricketing world ever since Virat has announced his decision of stepping down as the Test captain. However, the entire cricketing community has been keen to know as to what BCCI’s stance on the entire situation has been as BCCI has been under the fire recently for the mishandling of the entire captaincy issue. Many of them have even challenged the BCCI’s non-transparency.
In fact, soon after the announcement made by Virat Kohli the BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal justified by saying to the media that “Virat Kohli had no pressure from the BCCI or selectors to step down. It is his decision and we respect that, but he could have carried on for another two to three years as captain.”
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly also took to social media and tweeted that under Virat’s leadership Indian cricket has made rapid strides in all formats of the game. His decision is a personal one and BCCI respects it immensely. He will be an important member to take this team to newer heights in the future. Even the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah tweeted but none of the BCCI officials asked Kohli to “reconsider his decision.” The former cricketers are debating on television asking BCCI to address a press conference.
Following India’s narrow Test series loss to South Africa earlier last week, Virat Kohli announced his stepping down as a Test captain. Kohli had earlier relinquished his T-20 captaincy after India’s campaign at the T-20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and was replaced by Rohit Sharma’s as India’s full-time white-ball skipper last month.
Experts in cricket world are also calling that the timing of quitting the captaincy was not correct and all decisions were being made through social media and not by discussing and sitting across the table. On the previous occasion, when the captaincy was taken away from MS Dhoni and handed to Kohli in 2018, the transfer of leadership was smooth. The changeover from Kohli to Rohit appeared forced, rather than smooth and peaceful leading to a press conference addressed by Virat Kohli and also television interviews by former player and ex-India team coach Ravi Shastri.
Media reporting on cricket said that by the time Kohli announced his voluntary resignation to his teammates, it was late in the night in India but Kohli made a call to BCCI secretary Jay Shah to inform about his decision. The call to Shah about giving up the Test captaincy was a direct one and no one else was part of that conversation.
In fact, after June 1983 when India won the Prudential Cup at Lords money started flowing in BCCI’s coffers which was never before prior to 1983. Following that many politicians also took “control” of the BCCI and it actually became a prized possession for the politicians to head the BCCI. Today BCCI is one of the richest sporting organisations in the world. The growth of Indian Premier League (IPL) also has fuelled big money in cricket.
While this discussion continues in the cricket world the game moves on. Team India’s next Test assignment is slated to take place against Sri Lanka in the month of March in India. Currently, the team India is in South Africa where they will play a three-match one day international (ODI) series before returning to India to play a three-match ODI and a three-match T-20 series against West Indies. Even though people do watch cricket but they can also smell foul as it has emerged in cricket after the entry of money. BCCI needs to make itself more transparent to bring back the trust in the game.
