Virat Kohli’s sudden decision to step down as the captain of India’s Test team has shocked the cricketing world and former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has reckoned that the former resigning as Test captain is due to him being at loggerheads with the BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly.
After Kohli’s announcement, Ganguly had put out a tweet saying that the call was entirely Kohli’s, meaning that the BCCI had nothing to do with it. And going by Kohli’s official statement, it appeared that he did it without any pressure.
However, Latif feels that irrespective of what Ganguly has tweeted, the ‘reason’ behind Virat resigning as Test captain is due to him being at loggerheads with the BCCI chief.
“The real reason why these things happen is because you have a tiff with the board. Irrespective of what Virat says that it’s his decision or what Sourav Ganguly tweets, this is battle of two stalwarts,” Rashid Latif said in a video on Caught Behind.
Without naming anyone, Latif also felt that ‘some people’ have managed to affect Indian cricket by targetting Kohli.
“Some people are emotional. They know when and how to provoke Kohli. When he announced that he won’t captain India in T20Is after the World Cup, he was removed as ODI captain as well. You haven’t only unsettled Kohli; you’ve unsettled Indian cricket,” he explained.
Earlier on Sunday, a day after Kohli’s announcement of captaincy exit, Ganguly had 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.
“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.
Notably, 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.