Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: #WorldStandsWithKohli trends as fans show support for Kohli vs BCCI | Fans support Virat Kohli against BCCI ahead of South Africa tour
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has again come under scrutiny for its communication strategy (or lack thereof), with conflicting statements presented to the media by the board itself and former white-ball captain Virat Kohli.
Earlier this week, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that the board tried to convince Kohli to continue at T20I captain after the batsman made his decision to resign from the role.
“We had requested Virat not to step down as T20 captain but he didn’t want to continue as captain,” Ganguly said to PTI. “So, the selectors felt that they cannot have two white-ball captains in two white-ball formats. That’s too much of leadership.”
However, Kohli then threw a curveball in his own press conference, claiming that there was no communication from the board after he decided to quit as captain. Also, Kohli, who has served his country so well, said he was told that he would be relieved of the ODI captaincy just one-and-a-half hours before the official announcement.
“When I decided to leave the T20I captaincy and approached the BCCI about my decision, it was received well – there was no offence or hesitation, I wasn’t told to reconsider it.
“I was contacted one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting on December 8 for the Test series,” said Kohli in a press conference. “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.
BCCI’s poor communication exposed again
This episode once again highlights the BCCI’s poor communication.
Sachin Tendulkar was contacted by a member of the media all those years ago to notify him that he was no longer to be captain.
Fans often rely on journalists to provide team information, with the BCCI’s Twitter handle as inactive as they get.
When MS Dhoni retired from international cricket last year, the board was slammed for such a poor, meek response to one of their greats announcing he would no longer represent the country.
The time is right for a women’s IPL, but there isn’t even a murmur of it from board level.
India’s tour of South Africa begins in just over a week’s time, and such a distraction is never ideal ahead of what is a huge opportunity for India to win their first ever Test series in the country. Here are some of the Twitter reactions in support of Virat Kohli.
