Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev weigh in on developing Virat Kohli-Sourav Ganguly face off

The sequence of events leading up to the sacking of Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain and then his press conference on December 15 has opened up more questions than giving concrete answers. 

Now, former greats of Indian cricket are weighing on what is developing as controversy and a possible clash between Kohli and Ganguly. 

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar said that questions must be asked of Ganguly over the discrepancy in statements made by him and Kohli on the same issue. He said that Kohli is not waging a war of words against the board but individually, Ganguly must come forward and address the confusion that have arisen out of miscommunication between the two parties.

“I think it (Kohli’s comment) 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,” Gavaskar told news channel India Today.

“Yes, he (Ganguly) 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,” he added.

On the other hand, India’s World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev suggested Kohli to not point fingers at individuals before the start of an important tour and urged him to take control of the situations that can cause harm to the side. He did not let Ganguly go off the hook as well and said both of them are wrong in making their views public before discussing the matter at a personal level.

“It is not good to point fingers on anybody at this point in time. The South Africa tour is coming and please pay attention to the tour,” Kapil told ABP News.“I would say the Board president is the Board president but yes the Indian cricket team captain is also a big thing. But talking badly about each other in public, I don’t think it is a good thing, whether it is Sourav or Kohli.”

Earlier, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had said that he personally requested Kohli to not relinquish his T20I captaincy as India did not want two captains for the two white-ball formats of the game. He had also said that Kohli was suggested if he would give up the captaincy of the side in the shortest format, his leadership from the ODI side will also go.

However, Kohli countered that claim without actually mentioning it in his press conference. He said that his decision to give up T20 captaincy was hailed as “progressive thinking” by the BCCI and he was not asked to stay on as T20I skipper.