Picture Credit: BCCI
Ever since Virat Kohli announced his decision of stepping down from the T20I captaincy, a lot of things are unfolding. People are coming up with new revelations. Kohli’s decision came as a surprise but it was anticipated with the events that unfolded in the past few months. Kohli has a good captaincy record but the empty cabinet of ICC trophies has constantly raised eyebrows.
Virat Kohli likes to build a team of people he can trust. He has been a great admirer of talent but experience also matters for him. A recent revelation confirms the same. As per a report in Cricbuzz, Virat Kohli fought hard to have Shikhar Dhawan in the ODI squad for England series in March. “For instance, he had to fight hard to have Shikhar Dhawan in the ODI squad for the India-England series in February- March this year. The selectors, it is learned, wanted to have another opener who did well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Kohli had insisted that Dhawan, who had by then lost his place in the Twenty20 squad, was a must,” it states.
The report also mentioned the intensity of the debate that took place over the matter. “So hot was the debate in that March meeting, that the BCCI had to wait for some sort of consensus before making the announcement, almost five days after the squad was picked,” it said. The report further states that Dhawan’s appointment as stand-in captain for the Sri Lanka tour was a completely different matter.
Virat consulted the selection committee before announcing his decision
As Kohli mentioned in his note on social media, he consulted with BCCI secretary Jay Shah and President Sourav Ganguly before he announced his decision. The report claims that hours before announcing his decision, Kohli communicated to Jay Shah that he wants to focus on his batting.
After his discussions with the Indian captain, Shah called for a meeting with the selection committee where Kohli revealed his decision. As per the report, the meeting was attended by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, Shah, Chetan Sharma, and the rest of the panel. It further states that Kohli wanted to give the decision-makers enough time to decide on the team’s future and hence decided to step down after the World Cup.