BCCI should have asked Virat Kohli to step down from both white-ball formats, says Rajkumar Sharma

The BCCI appointed Rohit Sharma as the new captain of India’s ODI team, and he will succeed Virat Kohli in the leadership role during the upcoming tour of South Africa. Earlier, after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2021, Kohli had stepped down from the captaincy role in the shortest format, and Rohit was appointed as the full-time skipper of the T20I team. However, Kohli had expressed his willingness to lead India in ODIs and Test cricket.

BCCI’s announcement on Wednesday, December 8, to replace Virat Kohli as ODI captain had irked fans and experts all over the world. However, Sourav Ganguly stated that the selectors decided against having different captains for two-white ball formats.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli’s childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma reckoned that the selectors should have straightaway asked the 33-year-old to step down as captain from the limited-overs format.

“I haven't talked to him (Virat Kohli) yet. His phone is switched off for some reason. But as far as my opinion is concerned, he had specifically stepped down from T20 captaincy and the selectors should've straightaway asked him to step down from both the white-ball formats, or not step down at all,” Sharma said, while speaking on the Khelneeti podcast.

Speaking on the sacking of Virat Kohli as ODI captain, Ganguly stated that the BCCI had asked Kohli to not step down from the T20I captaincy. Meanwhile, reacting to Ganguly’s statement, Rajkumar Sharma stated that he was surprised by the BCCI president’s words as he does not recall any requests to Kohli from the governing body.

“I read Sourav Ganguly's comments recently that they had asked Kohli to not step down from T20I captaincy (before the World Cup). I don't recall anything like that. This statement came as a surprise to me. There are different statements circulating around,” Sharma said.

Rajkumar further added that there is a lack of clarification and transparency behind the decision of the BCCI.

“The selection committee doesn't provide a reason behind the decision. We don't know what the management or the BCCI or the selectors want. There's no clarification, no transparency at all.

"It's a pity how this has happened. He has been such a successful one-day captain,” said the 56-year-old.