After Virat Kohli shocked the cricketing world by announcing his decision to step down as the captain of India’s Test team, BCCI Chief and former skipper Sourav Ganguly on Sunday opened up on the massive development and termed it as a ‘personal one’.
Ganguly took to Twitter to congratulate Kohli for a great stint as India’s captain in all three formats and hailed the team’s progress and rise under his leadership.
Kohli, on Saturday had stepped down from Test captaincy, following the team’s 2-1 series loss against South Africa.
“Under Virats 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. A great player. well done ..@BCCI @imVkohli,” Ganguly tweeted.
Earlier, Kohli had also stepped down from T20I captaincy after India’s poor show in the 2021 World Cup in the UAE and in December 2021, the BCCI had removed him from the ODI captaincy. The BCCI had named opener Rohit Sharma as the new white-ball skipper.
Later in an interview, BCCI chief Ganguly had claimed that he had requested Kohli not to step down from T20I captaincy however, his statement was contradicted by Kohli, who had said that he was informed about the ODI captaincy only one and a half hour before the team selection meeting.
Notably, Kohli’s revelation of the development in a press-conference before Team India’s departure for South Africa had triggered a storm in Indian cricket.
The controversy is seen as one of the main reason behind Kohli’s sudden announcement of stepping down from captaincy and many reports also suggested that all was not well between Kohli and the BCCI chief.
Kohli, 33, was first appointed as India captian at the Adelaide Test in 2014 against hosts Australia. He was appointed as the full-time captian after MS Dhoni had announced his retirement from the format ahead of the fourth Test at Sydney in January 2015.
Notably, after stepping down, Kohli is the most successful India Test skipper. Under his time as the captain, India played 68 Tests, winning 40, losing 17 and drawing 11 and with a win percentage of 58.82.
Significantly, India won a series in every country they travelled under Kohli barring South Africa and New Zealand.
After this development, Rohit is now most likley to be the next Team India captain. His first assignment as the full-time Test captain would be against Sri Lanka in the end of Februray when the islanders will tour India for a two-match Test series.
The two-Test series will be followed by a three-match T20I rubber.
In 2021, Kohli had also stepped down as the captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).