Sourav Ganguly, former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has made a striking statement regarding Virat Kohli following Team India’s heartbreaking loss to Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval despite rumors of a strained relationship between the two during Ganguly’s tenure as BCCI president, Kohli, and Ganguly seemed to have reconciled after their much-discussed ‘no-handshake’ incident during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.

In an interview with Aaj Tak after the WTC final, Ganguly reflected on his time at the helm of Indian cricket’s governing body. He revealed that the BCCI had reservations about Kohli stepping down as Test captain.

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“BCCI was not prepared for Virat Kohli leaving the Test captaincy. It was unexpected for us, especially after the South Africa tour. Only Virat Kohli can explain why he left the captaincy. There is no point discussing it now because Virat Kohli has stepped down. The selectors had to appoint a new India captain, and Rohit was the best option at that time,” Sourav Ganguly stated.

Kohli, in a press conference before India’s Test series against South Africa, mentioned that he received the news of his captaincy ending just one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting for the South Africa tour. “There was no prior communication to me at all from when I announced the T20I captaincy decision until the eighth (of December) where, as I said, I got a call one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting,” Virat Kohli had revealed.

Kohli concluded his captaincy tenure as India’s most successful Test captain in history. Under his leadership, India reached the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship in 2021.

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Virat Kohli achieved 40 Test wins as captain, surpassing the legendary MS Dhoni by 13 victories. With 18 Test series wins as captain, Kohli is only behind Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh in terms of most Test wins as a skipper. Additionally, he became the first Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia. Out of the 25 Test series led by Kohli, India suffered defeat in six.