BCCI chief selector, Chetan Sharma has made a flabbergasting revelation about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma regarding the captaincy change in the Indian team that took place in late 2021. The current Indian chief selector was heard saying in a sting operation that the higher-ups in the BCCI did not like Kohli, which is why they handed over the reins to Sharma.
In a sting operation by Zee News, Chetan Sharma revealed some closed-door details in BCCI’s selection meetings. Back in 2021, the board sacked Virat Kohli as the ODI skipper. Rohit Sharma was made the new ODI captain, even though Kohli never expressed his desire to step down as captain.
Chetan Sharma stated that the team management did not like Kohli. They were not in support of Rohit as well but assigned him the ODI captaincy as he was the next best option available. “We weren’t favoring Rohit Sharma, we were against Virat Kohli,” said Chetan Sharma. Zee News reported another statement from Chetan Sharma, where he said: “Ganguly did not favor Rohit but he never liked Virat. You can put it in this way.”
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Sharma and Kohli have been the biggest match-winners for Team India in the last decade. The duo was members of the squad that lifted the Champions Trophy 2013 and have led the nation to some memorable series victories over the last few years.
Chetan Sharma said, “don’t say Sourav Ganguly favored Rohit Sharma, say Ganguly disliked Virat Kohli”. (To Zee). Several reports have claimed that Sharma and Kohli have not been on the best terms off the field but that has never affected their performance on it. Sharma is currently the Indian team captain in all three formats of the game.
Chetan sharma – We weren't favouring Rohit as a Captain we were just against Virat Kohli. BCCI took the advantage of Virat's poor form and removed him from Captaincy. They shouldn't treat the country's No.1 batter like this. Shameful #GameOverhttps://t.co/o9nltuYOVs
— Pr𝕏tham (@Prxtham_18) February 14, 2023
Chetan Sharma is heard claiming that Kohli lied about Ganguly and BCCI at the controversial press conference. He said: “Sourav Ganguly said that think once, in what might have been a video conference. Virat would not have heard. There were nine people sitting there, not one person. All the people were there… I was also there. All the selectors and board members were there. Either Virat didn’t listen or Virat did. I don’t know. We don’t know, Virat will know.”
Explaining the explosive press conference that created a controversy in Indian cricket, the former pacer added that Kohli should not have brought up the topic, adding that he had no idea why Kohli ‘lied’.
Chetan Sharma continued: “Why did Virat say? He was going to South Africa as a captain. The press conference is about the team. There was no need to bring this topic there. The truth was that there was talk. Eight to nine people were sitting and talk was happening. Ganguly had said (spoken to Kohli). Virat was lying. But why Virat lied, nobody knows till today. This is his personal matter. There was controversy in it – board versus player.”
Having openly challenged the might of the BCCI, it was no surprise that Kohli also resigned as Test captain as well once India lost the red-ball series in South Africa.
Chetan sharma – Saurav ganguly didn't like virat kohli. We weren't favouring Rohit, we were just against Kohli
Shameful they shouldn't have treated their best batsman like thishttps://t.co/cdHmhhsH2r
— leisha (@katyxkohli17) February 14, 2023
Elaborating further on the Kohli vs Ganguly fight, Chetan Sharma claimed Kohli wanted to get back at Ganguly during the press conference. The 57-year-old said: “The press conference ahead of the India vs South Africa series where Virat Kohli revealed that he was told 1.30 hours before the declaration that he will be leaving the captaincy was unnecessary. He just wanted to get back at Sourav that’s why he did it.”
While there were several other interesting stuff too on which he spoke, Chetan Sharma finally broke his silence on the alleged rift between the current all-format skipper Rohit Sharma and Kohli.
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Revealing what was the actual ground reality – Chetan Sharma said while there is an ego clash for sure, there isn’t a rift on the other hand. Citing examples of Bollywood stars in Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, the chief selector said this is what it is between Rohit and Virat. Chetan added saying that both have had each other’s backs and support throughout and all these talks about the rift are speculations done by the media only.
