Former Indian skipper and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev has finally opened up on the ongoing ‘BCCI vs Virat’ controversy and he feels that this wasn’t the right time for the controversy as team India is touring for a crucial tour to South Africa.
Well, on Wednesday, in the pre-departure press conference in Mumbai, Virat Kohli left everyone in shock with his explosive statements where he dismissed the statement given by the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly regarding the captaincy shift by clarifying that he was not been spoken to previously about the change of captaincy and was informed only 90 minutes before the decision was announced by the chief of the selection committee Chetan Sharma. He had said:
“Whatever was said about the communication that happened about the decision that was made was inaccurate. I was contacted one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting on December 8 for the Test series and there was no prior communication to me at all since I announced my decision on T20I captaincy.”
“When I left the T20I captaincy, I had first approached BCCI and intimated them of my decision and laid down my point of view in front of them (office bearers). I gave the reasons why I wanted to quit T20 captaincy and my view point was received very nicely. There was no offence, no hesitation and not for once was I told that ‘you should not leave T20 captaincy’,” added Kohli.
Kohli had said that he could understand the reasons behind that decision as the Indian team had not won an ICC trophy under him. He had also assured full support to new white-ball captain Rohit Sharma.
Kapil Dev’s take on ‘Virat vs BCCI’ fiasco:
Meanwhile, former Indian all-rounder, who led the Indian cricket tea to the 1983 World Cup title, opined that it isn’t good to point fingers at anybody at this point in time. He said:
“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,”
“I would say Board president is 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.”
He also urged Kohli to take control of the situation and think about the country as it isn’t the right time to stir controversy. He said:
“Aap situation ko control kijiye, behtar ye hai ki aap desh ke baare mein sochiye (Please control the situation and it’s better to think about the country now),” said the former skipper who played 134 Tests between 1978 and 1994 and took 434 wickets along with making 5248 runs.
“Jo galat hai woh kal pata chal hi jayega but I don’t think it is right to stoke a controversy before a tour,” he opined.
Also Read: Sourav Ganguly Finally Responds To Virat Kohli’s Statements
