Virat Kohli's captaincy tenure in limited-overs cricket has ended in an ugly manner. If the trophy drought in the IPL as well as in the other world events, and group stage exit in his only T20 World Cup as a skipper weren't enough, the powerful people in the BCCI made sure that it gets even worse. Kohli has been openly sacked – the times have changed.
When Kohli gave up the T20I captaincy, he expressed his desire to lead India in Tests and ODIs. Well, the board enjoys the authority to dethrone Kohli, but there is very little doubt regarding the fact that this situation could have been handled better.
Not only this information was foot-noted as some unimportant news in the BCCI media advisory, but the BCCI didn’t also care to mention the reasons for this decision. No press conference, no proper statement, nothing – just a footnote! The BCCI President waited for the public to speculate for a day, only to come up with hard-to-digest reasoning.
The BCCI secretary said they had a clear roadmap in his statement when Kohli gave up the T20I captaincy. The BCCI could have informed Kohli earlier about their reluctance to have two white-ball captains. It seems that they were waiting for an opportunity to put their hammer down.
Also, a narrative has been set that Kohli will be better off focusing on his batting and managing his workload. Well, it would have been fair enough if Kohli himself had released such a statement and stepped down from the ODI captaincy.
Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli at the presentation.
However, it is a bit odd that the BCCI are backing Rohit as captain in two formats, who is not only older than the fitness freak Kohli, but arguably also has a higher workload now.
The problem is not with Kohli’s sacking but with the way he has been mistreated. Kohli, who has been a great servant of the Indian side over the years, shouldn’t have been disrespected like this.
Kohli isn’t a great captain in the shorter formats, the BCCI are correct at their place to back Rohit who they understandably trust more. But, they should have been more transparent and more respectful to Kohli. To beat around the bush through leaks by several unnamed sources should be a strict no-no.
Well, the lack of transparency and communication has been an issue with BCCI for quite some time now. During India’s tour of Australia in 2020, captain Kohli spoke about the lack of clarity and confusion regarding Rohit’s unavailability. Ironically enough, the BCCI President himself liked a tweet on this matter.
Also, it’s not only disrespectful to Kohli but also to the millions of fans out there. In a cricket-crazy country like India, the public certainly needs to be given a straightforward and honest answer.
Hurting the egos of big players isn’t a good idea, as it may disrupt the environment in the dressing room. Disrespecting them badly might do only worse. BCCI may realise their mistake later. They must ensure that the players are regrouped well and share a good bond, particularly Rohit, Kohli and Dravid.
All said and done, Kohli will have to make peace with it. He may need to talk with himself. Kohli often says that he takes the field when he is ready to give his 100 percent. The sooner he makes peace with these bad memories, the sooner he will be ready to give his 100 percent. Because of the team man he is, we can expect Kohli to try his best to do so.
He is still the best ODI batter in the world, and should be aiming to have a blockbuster home World Cup 2023. Not only for the side, but it will be also for the greater good of Kohli’s legacy.
With the T20 World Cup 2022 coming up in Australia, the team would want to have a batter of his range against pace-bowling. Kohli’s T20 game needs a bit of refinement, and with more time on his side now, he should be able to catch up with it.
Kohli’s batting returns haven’t been great of late, and the fluency in his batting is also missing. He will look to fix the minor issues and bat with more freedom – and who knows if another peak could be around the corner. Well, one might hope so!
(Tushar Jain is a freelance cricket writer. Cheering for the Indian cricket team and Data Analysis are his hobbies. He tweets at @mainlycricket.)
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