Vengsarkar thinks Ganguly ticked off Kohli by ‘speaking on behalf of selectors’

Former cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar was critical of BCCI President Sourav Ganguly as the controversy surrounding sacking of Virat Kohli as ODI captain refuses to die down.

Vengsarkar said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its president Sourav Ganguly did not do the right thing by the way they removed Kohli from the captainship earlier this month. Rohit Sharma replaced Kohli as ODI captain. Sharma was earlier made India’s T-20 team captain when Kohli voluntarily stepped down from the position.

Hours before Team India left for South Africa for an elaborate series, Kohli spoke to the media and said that nobody from the BCCI asked him to continue as T20I captain after he resigned. BCCI President Ganguly had earlier claimed that Kohli was indeed asked to continue. Kohli also said that he was removed as captain of the ODI team two hours before the team for the South Africa series was declared.

Vengsarkar said the war of words between Kohli and Ganguly was “unfortunate” and said Ganguly could have avoided it by not adding fuel to fire by “speaking on behalf of the selectors”. “It’s very unfortunate, the whole thing. I think it should have been handled more professionally by the cricket board.

“The thing is that Ganguly had no business to speak on behalf of the selection committee. Ganguly is the president of BCCI. Any issue about selection or captaincy, it’s the chairman of the selection committee who should speak,” Vengsarkar told the Khaleej Times.

Vengsarkar said the way Ganguly spoke must have hurt Kohli. “Ganguly spoke about the whole thing, obviously Virat wanted to make his case clear. I believe it should have been between the chairman of the selection committee and the captain. A captain is selected or removed by the selection committee, that’s not Ganguly’s jurisdiction at all,” he said.

Also read: Sacked as ODI captain 90 minutes before SA tour selection, says Kohli

The former cricketer also had a word of advice for Kohli. “Yes, things should change now. Kohli, you have to respect him, he has done so much for the country, so much for Indian cricket. But how they dealt with him, it must have definitely hurt him,” he added.

Kohli is the captain of Team India for the three-match Test series against South Africa, starting December 26. Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out of the Test series with a hamstring injury, will join the team next month and captain the ODI side from January 19. This is subjected to condition that Rahul is fit enough to play.