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Everything between Virat Kohli and the Board of Cricket Control in India is not fine. The events that have unfolded in the past few months at least say the same story. First, the 33-year-old, resigned from T20I captaincy citing workload management as the reason. Then, he is removed from the ODI captaincy as BCCI wanted only one captain for both ODIs and T20Is. And now, Virat Kohli announced his sudden resignation as red-ball captain with immediate effect. All these things have only fuelled the rumors. A latest development has also indicated that all is not well between the Indian cricket board and the former captain.
According to the latest update, Virat Kohli has rejected BCCI's proposal to lead India in the Bangalore Test against Sri Lanka. Reportedly, BCCI had asked Kohli to take charge for one last time in Bangalore against Sri Lanka in what will be Kohli's 100th Test. However, Kohli has remained intact at his decision to leave the captaincy in red-ball cricket and rejected the proposal.
India will host Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series which will be a part of the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle. The first Test is scheduled to be played in Bangalore from 25 February.
BCCI vs Virat Kohli continues
In the past few months, Kohli has looked unsettled with the changes going around. This was perhaps one of the reasons behind his decision to quit Test captaincy. The Delhi-born cricketer contradicted himself with his decision to leave Test captaincy (as he had said that he wants to focus on red-ball cricket while announcing his T20I resignation). This only confirms that Kohli is not in the best of mindset and thus doesn't want to overburden himself.
On the other hand, the BCCI has not clearly stated what compelled them to remove Kohli from the ODI captaincy. While President Sourav Ganguly had said that he himself asked Kohli to not quit the T20I captaincy, Chetan Sharma came up whole another story after Virat's Press Conference before South Africa tour. Nonetheless, as now Kohli has freed himself from all the captaincy responsibilities, he will look to enjoy his game and focus on his batting. And the BCCI will also move on to their next captain.