India faced an embarrassing defeat of 209 runs at the hands of Australia in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 at the Oval. Rohit Sharma was the captain of Team India in the final. However, when the cycle for the second edition of WTC started, Virat Kohli was the leading man. Nevertheless, Kohli left the captaincy following India’s away defeat against South Africa in 2022. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) under the presidency of Sourav Ganguly then gave the nod to Rohit to lead the side in the longest format.
Now, former India captain Ganguly has said that the board was not ready for Virat’s Test captaincy exit, which was the latter’s personal decision. Ganguly’s latest remarks come in the wake of fans calling for the reinstatement of Kohli as India’s Test skipper after the Rohit-led side suffered a heavy defeat in WTC 2023 final.
“BCCI were not prepared for Virat Kohli leaving the Test captaincy. It was unexpected for us also after the South Africa tour. Only Virat Kohli can reveal why he left the captaincy. There is no point talking about this now because Virat Kohli left the Test captaincy. Selectors had to appoint an India captain. And Rohit was the best option at that time,” Ganguly stated in an interview to AajTak.
In 2021, Kohli expressed his wish to continue the ODI captaincy, but BCCI still decided to replace him. This decision ignited a lot of speculation about Ganguly and Kohli’s relationship. Ahead of the T20 World Cup of 2021 in UAE, Kohli announced that he would leave the captaincy in the shortest format after the conclusion of the tournament.
The 34-year-old, while leading India in whites, has achieved the fourth-highest number of victories with 40 wins and 11 draws in 68 matches. He is currently the fourth most successful captain in the history of Test cricket. He also ranks third among all 28 Test captains who have led their teams in 40 or more matches.
