Former Indian chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar just can’t understand why the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly talked to the media after Virat Kohli’s sacking when it was actually the chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma who should have come out and explained the reasons.
Dilip Vengsarkar, while talking to Khaleej Times, said it’s not up to the BCCI president to decide who will be the captain of the team and who will be removed. Any decision regarding the selection of the players or the appointment or the sacking of the captains is always made by the selection committee. It’s something that has been happening right since 1932.
When Kohli was sacked, it was the duty of the chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma to come out and clarify why the decision was made. There was just no reason for Ganguly to come out and speak to the media about a decision that did not fall under his jurisdiction and which fell under the jurisdiction of the selection committee headed by Chetan Sharma.
Dilip Vengsarkar was the chief selector when Ganguly was dropped in 2008
Dilip Vengsarkar was the chairman of selectors back in 2008 when the selectors had dropped Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid from ODI cricket. The selection committee had to take a lot of criticism for that, but, a young Indian team went to Australia and beat Australia in their own backyard to win the triangular ODI series under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.
Sourav Ganguly never returned to the Indian ODI team after that, and announced his retirement shortly. Vengsarkar’s selection committee had also dropped Virender Sehwag for his poor form but later got him back into the squad once he regained his form in the domestic circuit.
The 65-year-old Vengsarkar, who himself played 100 test matches for India and has held administrative roles since his retirement as a player, is not happy with the way the BCCI has treated Kohli. Vengsarkar is of the view that the board should have kept in mind how much Kohli has contributed towards the success of the Indian team over the years.
Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly are not on great terms these days after Kohli revealed in his last press conference that he was not asked by BCCI to stay on as all-format captain of India, something which Ganguly had claimed on record while talking to the media.
Ganguly has not stated anything in his official capacity after Kohli’s press conference, but he recently said in an event in Guru gram that even though Kohli’s attitude is admirable, he “fights a lot”.
