Ganguly on Kohli's captaincy comments: 'Leave it to BCCI'

Sunil Gavaskar feels BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is the best person to clear the air on Virat Kohli's statement that he was not asked by the Indian board to reconsider his decision to quit the T20I captaincy. Ganguly, though, refused to make any comment. "No statement, no press conference," he told TV reporters later in the day. "We will deal with it. Leave it to BCCI."

Days after Kohli had stepped down as captain, Ganguly had said the BCCI had asked him to reconsider the decision. Kohli contradicted Ganguly's statement during his press conference on Wednesday, ahead of the team's departure for South Africa.

"I think it [Kohli's comment] actually doesn't bring the BCCI into the picture. I think it's the individual who has to be asked where he got the impression he had conveyed such a message to Kohli. So, that's the only thing," Gavaskar, the former India captain, told India Today.

"Yes, he [Ganguly] is the BCCI president and surely he should be asked why there is this discrepancy. He is probably the best person to ask about the discrepancy in what you seem to have to say and what the Indian captain has said."

Following his announcement on the T20I captaincy, Kohli was also removed as ODI captain earlier this month. Kohli said during his press conference that his removal from ODI captaincy happened 90 minutes before the team's selection for the South Africa tour. Gavaskar felt there was nothing wrong on the part of selection committee chairman Chetan Sharma on that count.

"What is the controversy here. As long as the chairman of selectors had told him clearly that we are not considering you for ODI captaincy now, that's perfectly fine. It is the selectors who have complete authority in selection committee meetings. The captain is just a co-opted non-voting member," Gavaskar said. "As long as it's not something that he [Kohli] has not found out from the media or as it happened in the past that the commander of a passenger flight announced it. I think he has been told by the chairman of the selection committee that he is not going to be the captain, I think that is absolutely okay.

"I don't know what these people wanted to do. As long as there has been communication between the chairman of selection committee and him, it's the decent thing to do."

Gavaskar said that the BCCI needed to communicate more clearly - and publicly - on big selection decisions in future, to avoid such issues. "Yes, it always helps to have a clear line of communication so that there is no speculation. So from now, from what has happened, there should be a clear line of communication and the chairman of the selection committee can come down and say why [someone] has been picked and why [someone] has not been picked.

"Sometimes, even if that is not needed, a press release is also good enough. A good press release giving all the reasons makes life a lot easier."

Former India captain Kapil Dev, meanwhile, said the current Test captain and board president contradicting each other in public was "not a good thing". Instead, he said, the focus should be on big tour of South Africa that is coming up. "It is not good to point fingers on anybody at this point in time. The South Africa tour is coming and please pay attention to the tour," Kapil told ABP News when asked about Kohli's remarks.

"I would say board president is board president but yes the Indian cricket team captain is also a big thing. But talking badly about each other in public, I don't think it is a good thing, whether it is Sourav or Kohli."