Captaincy Row
Sourav Ganguly wanted to send show cause notice to Virat Kohli after explosive press conference: Reports
In a new turn to the ongoing captaincy row, some reports have emerged claiming Indian cricket board (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly wanted to send a show cause notice to then Test captain Virat Kohli after the latter contradicted with his boss in an explosive press conference.
Though Ganguly was keen on seeking an explanation from Kohli, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah intervened and requested the president to refrain from sending show cause notice.
Reports claimed Shah wanted to pause the step as he didn't want a negative impact to fall on the national men's team, which were touring South Africa for a significant series.
Kohli, who was stripped off his One Day International (ODI) captaincy as the board wanted a single white ball skipper, contradicted Ganguly who claimed he had requested the former to carry on leading India in T20s.
Ganguly, who faced backlash after his cricket board sacked Kohli as ODI captain, told ANI, "It's a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together.
"Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats."
Contradicting the BCCI president, Kohli, who is now a former skipper in all formats, dropped a bombshell saying, "When I told the BCCI that I want to give up T20I captaincy, it was accepted really well. There was no hesitancy. I was told that it was a progressive step. I had informed at that time that I would like to lead in ODIs and Tests.
"The communication from my side was clear but I had also informed that if the office bearers and selectors don't think I should lead in other formats, then that is fine."
Rubbishing Kohli's claims using best possible words, Indian chief selector and former cricketer, Chetan Sharma echoed Ganguly's version in a press conference later.
"All selectors had asked Virat Kohli to think over it (leaving captaincy) because the World Cup was coming. We had asked him (Virat Kohli) to think about quitting after the World Cup," he had said.
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