Virat Kohli’s childhood coach opens up after BCCI removes him as ODI skipper

Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has called out the BCCI and selectors for their lack of transparency and questionable handling of the captaincy shift. The senior selection committee headed by Chetan Sharma, on December 8, announced their decision to name Rohit Sharma as the ODI skipper, replacing Kohli.

The move came as a surprise, as Kohli, who stepped down as the T20I captain after India’s 2021 T20 World Cup campaign concluded, had expressed a clear inclination of wanting to lead the ODI and Test sides while he made that announcement.

Despite that, the manner in which the development came was bound to raise eyebrows, as unlike before, when Kohli announced his decision himself, his involvement during the ODI captaincy transfer was nil. Sharma revealed that he tried reaching out to Kohli but failed to, however, he contended that Kohli was very clear in his communication about which format he was stepping down from when he made the announcement.

“I haven’t talked to him [Virat Kohli] yet. His phone is switched off for some reason. But as far as my opinion is concerned, he had specifically stepped down from T20 captaincy and the selectors should’ve straightaway asked him to step down from both the white-ball formats or not step down at all,” Sharma said while speaking on the Khelneeti podcast.

Ganguly’s statement came as a surprise to me: Rajkumar Sharma

He further expressed surprise at Ganguly’s comments regarding the BCCI having asked Kohli to not step down as the T20I skipper. “I read Sourav Ganguly’s comments recently that they had asked Kohli to not step down from T20I captaincy (before the World Cup). I don’t recall anything like that. This statement came as a surprise to me. There are different statements circulating around,” he said.

Calling out the selectors for their non-transparency in the decision-making process, Sharma said that it is a “pity” how the events have unfolded. “The selection committee doesn’t provide a reason behind the decision. We don’t know what the management or the BCCI or the selectors want. There’s no clarification, no transparency at all. It’s a pity how this has happened. He has been such a successful one-day captain,” he added.