Former Australia batsman and head coach Justin Langer expressed his strong views regarding the captaincy saga between Virat Kohli and BCCI in 2021/22 that saw the Delhi-born going from captaining the team in all three formats to none in a space of few months.
Justin is part of the commentary panel of the ongoing WTC Final 2023 between India and Australia at The Oval.
During his commentary stint on Day 1 of the WTC Final, Langer opined his views about the events that unfolded involving Virat, the former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and ex-chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma.
Langer slammed the BCCI and their decision-makers for removing Kohli as the captain from the ODI format.
He reckons BCCI disrespected the legend that is Virat Kohli by taking the ODI captaincy away from him.
The former Australian head coach feels it was a big injustice from the board toward their star man.
Speaking in the commentary, Justin Langer said: “There was nothing I didn’t like about Virat Kohli. His aggression, his passion, his batting. He was an amazing captain.
“BCCI did injustice to him, and I do not want to hear anything else. If he wanted to keep the ODI captaincy, he should have been allowed to do that out of respect.”
Ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Virat announced he was stepping down as the T20I skipper, but would continue as the ODI captain. A few months later, the BCCI sacked Kohli as the captain, with Ganguly citing that the board wanted only one captain for both ODIs and T20Is, thus handing the reins to Rohit Sharma. After the South Africa tour ended in Jan 2022, Virat stepped down as the Test captain as well.
