It can be debated whether the Indian selectors’ decision to sack Virat Kohli as One Day International (ODI) captain was the right call. India’s win-loss ratio under Kohli (2.407) is, after all, the fourth-best for any team under a captain in the history of the format. And the lack of International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophies does not hold as a reason, for India last played a 50-over World Cup in mid-2019.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) explained their reluctance towards different captains for ODIs and T20 Internationals. Whether that made sense is debatable, but had they made it part of an official release, the Indian cricket fraternity would have focused on the South Africa tour – India’s ‘final frontier’ in Test cricket – instead of speculating on whose quote was authentic.
Instead, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly mentioned in an interview that he had asked Kohli to stay on as T20I captain when the latter had resigned in September. Kohli denied the statement. Chetan Sharma, the Chairman of Selectors, soon announced a press conference, only to call it off shortly afterwards.
A simple matter of a replacement of captain was blown out of proportion, partly by the cricket media, but largely due to the lack of transparency from the BCCI.
The axing of captains is routine in international cricket, especially if there is an official cricketing reason. It is more common with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises. In 2009, Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan caused a furore with his multiple-captain strategy. Ganguly was replaced by Brendon McCullum at the helm, and was released altogether in 2011. The anguish died down when KKR won their first title in 2012.
In contrast, there was virtually no reaction when Kevin Pietersen replaced Rahul Dravid as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain ahead of the same season. In 2017, when Rising Pune Supergiant replaced MS Dhoni with Steven Smith, there was an outrage initially.
However, nothing compares to the pandemonium that reigns when the international captain of Indian side is replaced. Dravid, Anil Kumble, and Dhoni had brought some normalcy by stepping down as captains, not allowing the BCCI to confuse anyone.
But Kohli, the first Indian captain to be sacked since Ganguly in 2005, evoked near-similar memories. In that instance, the chain of events was triggered by an email, sent by coach Greg Chappell to the BCCI. The contents of the email were leaked.
While attempting a reconciliation between the two, the BCCI issued a gag order, preventing the contracted cricketers from talking on the issue, adding to the confusion. By the time Ganguly was replaced by Dravid, multiple contradictory versions of the chain of events had come into existence.
In both cases, the BCCI played a part, as they had done on numerous occasions before. Their procedure of appointing and sacking captains has often hovered between bizarre and surreal.
In the pre-Independence days of Indian cricket, the royalty used to control and finance most of the Indian cricket. To please everyone was not easy, so the 1932 tour of England, which included India’s first ever Test match, featured a captain (the Maharaja of Porbandar), a vice-captain (Kumar Shri Limbdi, also Porbandar’s brother-in-law), and a deputy vice-captain (Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram aka Vizzy).
Vizzy opted out of the tour, and Porbandar and Limbdi skipped most matches. CK Nayudu led India in the Test match. Over the next four years, Vizzy laid out a Machiavellian scheme that involved aligning with the British Viceroy – to get himself appointed as captain for the 1936 tour.
But the royal mess during India’s home series of 1958/59, against the West Indies, can hardly be attributed to the royalty.
Appointed as captain for the first Test, Ghulam Ahmed was reluctant to lead in Bombay. He felt that the local crowd did not like him. Polly Umrigar led India instead. India drew the match, but Ghulam replaced Umrigar for the next two Tests, in Kanpur and Calcutta. India were blown away by the West Indian fast bowlers in both matches. Ghulam resigned. And the fun began.
Virat Kohli (left) and Sourav Ganguly (right)
The selectors asked Ghulam to withdraw his resignation. He agreed. Four days before the next Test, in Madras, Ghulam, unable to go back on his word, announced retirement. Umrigar was reappointed. On the eve of the match, Umrigar delivered a speech as India's captain. Then he returned to the team hotel and resigned.
The selectors tried to convince Umrigar to lead India through the night, but failed. At three in the morning, Subhash Gupte heard Umrigar cry in his hotel room in despair. The next morning, about 15 minutes before the toss, Gupte confessed to West Indian captain Gerry Alexander that he had no idea who would lead India that day.
Vinoo Mankad walked out to the toss that day. The selectors had convinced him inside a toilet ‘at the back of the dressing room.’ Predictably, India lost by a colossal margin, and the selectors decided on GS Ramchand, who had taken charge when Mankad had left the ground for a while, as captain for the fifth Test, at Delhi.
But Ramchand could not be found, for he had left with the other Bombay cricketers to catch the train. That was all it took for the selectors to search for a new captain. They reached out to Hemu Adhikari, who had not played a Test match in over two years and was posted on military duty in Dharamshala. They had to place a request through his senior officer.
Sunil Gavaskar on his 10,000 Test runs anniversary at the Gujarat’s Narendra Modi Stadium on 6 March 2021.
(Photo Courtesy: Saikat Das/Sportzpics for BCCI)
Ramchand was dropped for the Test match. Adhikari never played another Test match after that. Datta Gaekwad, who was so unsure of a spot in the side that he had been pursuing a Lancashire League contract, was appointed captain for the 1959 tour of England (Pankaj Roy led in the second Test, making it six captains in seven Tests).
The tides of Indian cricket turned under Ajit Wadekar, who led India to series wins in the West Indies and England (both in 1971) as well as a series against England at home (in 1972-73). For the first time in history, India were a contender for the best side in the world.
Wadekar first lost a series in 1974, a 0-3 whitewash in England. In the face of public outrage, Wadekar, the man who led India to unprecedented glory, was dropped from the West Zone Duleep Trophy side (this was an era when Test cricketers featured regularly in domestic cricket). At 33, Wadekar retired from first-class cricket.
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was recalled as captain, with Sunil Gavaskar as deputy. Keeping true to their tradition, the BCCI requested Gavaskar to keep his designation a secret. Pataudi dislocated a finger in the first Test and was ruled out of the second, in Delhi. Gavaskar had little option but to disclose his ‘secret’, but he got injured in a Ranji Trophy match.
No one knew who would lead India in Delhi. To complicate things, Ramchand, now manager, announced to the media, "I know who the Indian captain is but I’m not telling." Amidst the confusion, the Delhi and District Cricket Association announced Farokh Engineer’s name as captain. Eventually S Venkataraghavan led India with little preparation, and was predictably dropped for the rest of the series.
Gavaskar and Venkat’s paths would cross again. Venkat replaced Gavaskar as captain for the 1979 tour of England, to quote Gavaskar, "allegedly because of some statements my wife had made to the media." As the Indian team flew back from England after the tour, the public address system on the aircraft announced that Gavaskar had replaced Venkat as captain.
The saga continued. In 1984-85, the selectors retained Gavaskar as captain for the Benson & Hedges World Championship in Australia. BCCI Joint Secretary Ranbir Singh Mahendra had been waiting outside Hotel Mountview, Chandigarh, where the cricketers had been put up. He would drive Gavaskar to the selectors.
If this sounds routine, the instructions for Gavaskar were not. He was asked to scale the walls of the hotel to meet Mahendra in order to avoid the media outside the hotel entrance. This made little sense, for Gavaskar was the existing captain, not a replacement.
While scaling the wall, Gavaskar made up his mind. He resigned after the tour.
Kapil Dev, the next Indian captain, served his two stints without much fuss. However, Kapil’s successor, Dilip Vengsarkar violated his contract by writing a newspaper column and was banned for six months.
At Madras in 1987-88, with India trailing 0-1 against a strong West Indies side, Ravi Shastri led India in the absence of the injured Vengsarkar. India rode on debutant Narendra Hirwani’s 16 wickets to script a historic win, but Shastri never led again in Test cricket. K Srikkanth succeeded Vengsarkar, and not for the first time, the board and cricketers fell out over dispute regarding payment.
Virat Kohli in training before the Manchester Test.
(Photo: PTI)
Srikkanth did not lead India again, though, to be fair, he was dropped from the side for poor form. He was replaced by not Shastri but Mohammad Azharuddin. Not only had Azhar led India in only four first-class matches until then, but had only managed to hold on to his place in the side only four Tests ago because Raman Lamba had picked up a last-minute injury.
Azhar led India for six years before Sachin Tendulkar took over. In 1997, Tendulkar got to know from the media, and not the BCCI, that Azhar had replaced him. Eight years later, Ganguly faced the same fate, and now Kohli.
The axing of a captain is commonplace, but the least they – and the fans – deserve is clarity, something the BCCI has perennially failed to provide. The incidents would have passed as laughable in a semi-professional era; but with India dominating cricket both on and off the field, they cannot be passed as a joke anymore.
The BCCI should have left the amateurism decades behind.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor of CricketNews by day and biryani demolisher at night. He is the co-author of Sachin and Azhar at Cape Town, and tweets @ovshake42.)
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