Was surprised when Virat Kohli announced his decision to quit T20I captaincy, says BCCI president Sourav Ganguly

Was surprised when Virat Kohli announced his decision to quit T20I captaincy, says BCCI president Sourav Ganguly

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Virat Kohli is leading India in the T20I for one final time in the T20 World Cup 2021

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Former India captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has said that he was surprised after Virat Kohli took the decision to step down from T20I captaincy after the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Ganguly stated that the decision was Kohli's own and he might have taken it after the England tour.

Virat Kohli had shocked the cricket fraternity by announcing his decision after arriving in the UAE from the 4-month-long England tour in September. Days later he made the call to quit as RCB's captaincy also and explained that the idea was to manage his workload and focus more on the ODI and Test captaincy. 

Later, numerous reports popped up and suggested that the decision was not entirely Kohli's and BCCI played its role in it. 

Bringing an end to all the rumours and speculations, Sourav Ganguly has said that BCCI does not do "things like that". 

"I was surprised (that Virat Kohli decided to step down as T20 captain). This decision must have been taken only after the England tour and it is his decision. There was no pressure from our end, we didn't tell him anything," Ganguly told India Today.

"We don't do things like that because I myself have been a player so I understand. It is very difficult to be a captain in all formats for this long.

"I was a captain for six years, it looks good from the outside, there is respect and all that. But you get burnt out on the inside and it happens to any captain. Not just to Tendulkar or Ganguly or Dhoni or Kohli but to the captain that will come up next as well. It is a tough job."

Virat Kohli is a human, not a machine: Ganguly

Meanwhile, Ganguly also played down questions regarding Virat Kohli's current form and said that even the greatest in the business, will go through lean periods in their long careers.

"This happens (dip in Kohli's form). Virat has been playing for about 11 years, not every season can be great. He is human not a machine. So I am not surprised. His graph has gone up so high, then it came down, then it went even higher and that is when you see a player like Virat. If you play for a long time this sort of up and down will happen," he added.

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