Virat Kohli doesn't pressurize for anything, says COA chief Vinod Rai
CoA chief Vinod Rai has clarified that contrary to popular belief, Virat Kohli doesn't pressurize him for any policy matter regarding the Indian team. Talking about the current bunch of players, he emphasized that they should focus on winning Test series in England and Australia, 2019 WC in England.
The aggressive and dominating demeanor that the Indian skipper has carried on the field since coming into charge and his infamous feud with Anil Kumble, which led to the latter stepping own from the coaching role, had made it easy for people to assume that Kohli had a strong say in the policy matters. However, attending the rumor, COA chief Vinod Rai has now cleared the air stating that Kohli has never used his position to exercise pressure over the decisions of COA or upon any other team member as well.
"Any captain will exercise a certain amount of influence on the team. I am in favor of allowing that flexibility and discretion to a certain degree. After all, the captain carries the cross," Rai told PTI in an exclusive interaction during an event at Delhi Gymkhana.
"But I will make it clear that nobody has come to me and said that Virat exercises influence, which is disproportionate to what a captain should be enjoying," he added. At a personal level, Virat's behavior with me has been absolutely proper. Virat has never pressurized me for anything. Neither the team management nor selectors have ever had any complaints about Virat," Rai said.
The speculation over Kohli's excessive influence in policy decisions was high during Kumble's resignation in June last year with reports widely claiming that it was his Kohli's pressure that forced Kumble to step down. It has also been proclaimed that the three-member selection committee headed by MSK Prasad, who has only played 13 tests, at times have been put under pressure by Kohli, but the COA chief declared that the former wicket-keeper is not one who can be easily dominated.
"I have no first hand of knowledge that selectors have been under any pressure. I have a great amount of respect for MSK. I know of a particular incident when there was a bit of pressure on MSK. It was during January, last year when we (COA) had just come. I was told that MSK switched off his phone and then did the selection which was purely based on merit. MSK can't be cowed down and he is senior enough to tackle the star power. When he selected the team for Afghanistan Test, he was given a pool of players without Virat. Also, neither
Rai also threw light on the reason behind allowing Kohli to play county cricket for Surrey at the expense of the historic Afghanistan Test that is scheduled to be played from June 14.
"I was involved in the decision-making right from the start. There was a lot of criticism that the team didn't have enough time to acclimatize during the South Africa tour where we lost the Test series 1-2.”
"This time we discussed with team management, with India A coach Rahul Dravid and chalked an elaborate plan so that our boys reach their early and get to play matches in order to get ready. Also, the Afghanistan CEO (Shafiq Stanikzai) made a statesman that they are
Talking about the current Indian Team, Rai emphasized that the pool of players in India at the moment are fantastic and they should focus on winning Test series in England and Australia, 2019 WC in England.
“The whole world plays matches to win. Maybe 50 years back, Indian team used to play Test matches for a draw. We have a fantastic team and they want to focus on whatever is the immediate objective (win Test series in England and Australia, 2019 WC in England)."
Vinod Rai also made it clear that the decision of not playing 'pink ball cricket' was taken only after consulting the players - and insisted that knowing their insights on this matter, has been necessary. Further explaining it, he asserted that team director Ravi Shastri had provided the COA with the players' feedback after speaking to the skipper and some other senior players like Rohit Sharma.
On April 12, Ravi (Shastri) had met us for a debriefing and he told us, 'Look the team is focussed on something else (with a year left for World Cup). The team is not ready to start practicing with the pink ball yet. When we asked Ravi, has he spoken to senior players, he replied that he has indeed taken feedback from Virat and Rohit (limited overs vice-captain)."
