Three things that came to light from Virat Kohli’s bold press conference
The importance of the press conference by Virat Kohli ahead of the South Africa tour was understood when the Zoom call maxed out with 100 people and more attending the press conference leaving a few journalists without access into the call because the limit had been reached. With controversies around T20I and ODI captaincy circulating far and wide given the several “sources” and quotes from the BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, himself, it needed a few clear-the-air quotes from Kohli to give us all clarity into the exact proceedings that led to Kohli’s sacking as ODI captain and the saga surrounding his decision to step down from T20I captaincy.
In several bold statements, the former limited-overs skipper revealed details from the puzzle that the public weren’t aware of. Here’s three things we learned from the press conference.
Sourav Ganguly’s statements don’t add up!
Would the BCCI president lie? It’s a question that not many would have wondered about until Kohli squashed all statements made by the former Indian skipper and current BCCI president in an interview with News18 a few days back.
“It’s like I said… I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up T20 captaincy. Obviously, he felt the workload. Which is fine, he has been a great cricketer, he has been very intense with his cricket. He has captained for a long period of time and these things happen. Because I have captained for a long period of time; therefore, I know. Also, they wanted only one white-ball captain,” Ganguly had told News18.
When asked why one white ball captain is important when there are different formats of the game, Ganguly said: “A good team does not have too many leaders. That’s probably the reason and that’s what it is.”
Kohli put an end to that with his comment that “no one had asked me to not leave T20I captaincy”.
“The chief selector discussed with me the Test team to which we both agreed…and before ending the call I was told that the five selectors had decided that I would not be the ODI captain, to which I replied ‘OK, fine.’ In the selection call afterwards, we chatted about it briefly. That was all, there was no communication prior to it at all,” Kohli stated while adding that no had asked him to not leave T20I captaincy.
“I was never told that I should not leave T20I cricket captaincy” – Virat Kohli
Sourvav Ganguly: I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up the T20I captaincy
Niceeee, very nice.#SAvIND
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) December 15, 2021
Ganguly will cheerfully contradict himself now, most probably, as he’s done plenty of times before. Example: saying he wants the rescheduled Test in England to be a one-off game, and a few hours later saying it should be the fifth Test of the series.
— Karthik Krishnaswamy (@the_kk) December 15, 2021
Do not believe all “sources”
If you have been following Indian cricket closely over the past few years, you would know that official communication from the BCCI is almost always non-existent with the different journalistic mouth pieces putting the news out in public (almost always as a tweet). If at all the BCCI decides to do a press release, they likely come long after the news itself has been broken by the few journalists.
On top of this, there are so called “BCCI officials” anonymously leaking information to several publications which appear as quotes around social media leading to speculation and rumours until the odd day when a player decides to quash all such rumours like Virat Kohli did today.
Here, a Times of India journalist had tweeted a few days back that Kohli would not be available for the South Africa ODIs. The supposed breaking news came shortly after BCCI’s Test squad press release that mentioned a change in the ODI captaincy as a one-liner at the bottom. Kohli had supposedly asked for a break for his daughter’s birthday in January and would skip the ODIs after the test series although the birthday itself coincided with day one of the third Test per schedule.
Kohli cleared the air around this, stating that he “was and always am available” for the ODIs.
Virat Kohli: Earlier, it was said that I was at some event, which was not true. All those who are writing and their sources are not credible.
— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) December 15, 2021
Virat Kohli says he never planned a break. So, I’m wrong.
My apologies.
While I still believe in what I wrote, his word is important and must hold value. So, completely my bad.
— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) December 15, 2021
ALSO READ: Statements from Virat Kohli’s press conference
Rohit has Kohli’s backing
Well, this needed to be said given the rumours and theories circulating around in the media and amongst fans. The two biggest names in Indian cricket apparently did not quite see eye to eye according to several theories, but Kohli, yet again, came out to speak of his alleged rift with Rohit Sharma and the lie it was.
“There is no problem between me and Rohit Sharma. I have been clarifying since the last 2.5 years. I am literally tired,” Kohli stated while adding that Rohit was the right person to lead the side going forward. He also added that “India will miss the experience of Rohit Sharma in the Test series” while wishing him a speedy recovery.
“My responsibility is to push the team in the right direction, along with Rahul Bhai and Rohit, both of them will have my full support moving forward”
Until a new “source” and another rumour comes up, we have several doubts cleared by Kohli in his say-it-all press conference.