Chairman of the senior national team’s selection committee, Chetan Sharma on Friday, December 31, clarified his stance on the raging controversy surrounding Virat Kohli’s decision to quit T20I captaincy, saying everyone in the selection meeting had informed the then skipper to continue in the top job.
Chetan Sharma’s comments came after he announced India’s 18-man squad for the 3-match ODI series against South Africa, starting January 19.
Chetan Sharma contradicted Virat Kohli’s claims that no one from the board or the selection committee had asked him to reconsider his decision to give up captaincy in the shortest format of the game.
“When the meeting (Selection meeting for the World Cup) started, it (Kohli’s decision) was a surprise for everybody because there was a World Cup coming up in a few days and it’s normal that everybody will have a similar reaction,” Sharma told the press on Friday.
“Whoever was present in the meeting urged Virat Kohli to reconsider his decision. All selectors felt at that time that this could affect the World Cup, all selectors felt this could have been dealt with after the tournament.
“It was told to Virat for the sake of Indian cricket to continue as captain by everybody available in the meeting — all conveners were there, the board officials were there. Everyone told him, who will not tell? When suddenly you get such news, you are in shock as it’s a matter of the World Cup,” he added.
“Everybody requested that we can sit and decide about this after the World Cup but he has his own plans. We respected his decision. Yes, everybody told him to think about it.”
Virat Kohli, in an explosive press conference on December 8, had contradicted Sourav Ganguly’s claims that he had urged the skipper to not quit T20I captaincy.
“When I communicated with the BCCI first about quitting T20I captaincy, I told them that this is my point of view, these are the reasons for my decision, it was received quite well. No one took offence, no one had any hesitation. No one told me that I should not leave the T20I captaincy,” Kohli told the press.
CHETAN SHARMA ON DECISION TO REMOVE VIRAT KOHLI AS ODI CAPTAIN
Meanwhile, Chetan Sharma also clarified that the decision to remove Virat Kohli as ODI captain was announced as early as December 8 to ensure there is no distraction during an important tour like the one in South Africa.
The BCCI did not announce the ODI squad when announcing the Test squad.
“There is no confusion. I was expecting this question,” Sharma said.
“The thing is, it was told by Virat Kohli that he was informed 90 minutes before the press conference see the ODI squad was announced today. We announced i on that day because in the middle of the series, we wanted everybody to concentrate on cricket. You can’t call someone in the middle of the series and inform them you are not the captain.
“We have given time to Virat and as well as Rohit, they can get into the system. This is a question of our communication, selectors have brilliant communication wit3h the board. There is no communication problem with the team management, captain and even with the domestic players.
“We 5 selectors even communicate with every domestic player because it’s our work and duty. There is no communication gap.
“We tried to communicate the fact that we wanted to give the team time. On that day, the Test team was being selected. Virat was informed on the day before the selection meeting. I can’t decide on behalf of everyone as all the 5 selectors need to be involved and then only the captain can be informed.
“When all the selectors decided unanimously, we immediately informed the captain about it,” he added.
