“I was surprised by Virat Kohli’s decision of leaving T20 captaincy,” says Sourav Ganguly

The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has revealed that he was left surprised when Virat Kohli informed the BCCI that he wanted to step down as the T20 captain of India. According to Ganguly, it was Kohli’s individual decision and there was no pressure from the board.

Ganguly, who was in conversation with India Today, admitted that it’s not easy to captain the team in all formats of the game for so many years because it might seem like a powerful and influential job, and it actually is, but it also drains the player mentally and physically, and he understands that because he himself was the captain of India for 6 years.

It was Virat Kohli's own decision to give up captaincy: @SGanguly99 | @VikrantGupta73#SalaamCricket21 #Sports #Cricket #ViratKohli
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— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) October 22, 2021

Ganguly’s statement that the board was surprised by Kohli’s decision, however, contradicts the statement of the BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

Jay Shah, at the time of Kohli’s resignation, had said that the board was in discussions with Kohli about the future roadmap and transition for the last 6 months, and it was a “well-thought-out” decision.

Sourav Ganguly is not bothered about Kohli’s recent lack of form at all

Sourav Ganguly, meanwhile, also talked about Kohli’s form with the bat and insisted that he was not bothered about the Indian captain’s modest returns with the bat of late. It’s a phase every cricketer goes through at some point of time in his career. Everyone has an upward curve and a downward curve, but then there will be an upward curve again at some point and Kohli will be seen scoring heavily again.

Talking about the former Indian captain MS Dhoni‘s appointment as the mentor of the Indian team, Ganguly said Dhoni’s experience of winning three ICC tournaments can come in handy for the team. However, the BCCI president also stressed that Dhoni is there only to help the captain and the coach and the final decisions still lie in the hands of Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli.

M.S. Dhoni's appointment a valuable addition to the team: BCCI President @SGanguly99 | @VikrantGupta73

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— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) October 22, 2021