Dilip Vengsarkar Slams Sourav Ganguly Over Virat Kohli’s Sacking As ODI Captain

Former Indian skipper Dilip Vengsarkar is seemingly unhappy with BCCI President Sourav Ganguly over the unceremonious sacking of Virat Kohli as India’s ODi captain. Kohli was asked to step down under controversial situations with a lot of questions remaining unanswered over his captaincy sacking.

Rohit Sharma was named as the ODI captain of the Indian team as BCCI announced India’s squad for the Test series against South Africa. Kohli will continue as the red-ball skipper of the side.

Talking to Khaleej Times, Vengsarkar opened up on his thoughts over Virat Kohli’s removal as ODI skipper.

“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.”

Kohli had already spoken about giving up on T20I captaincy. In the same breadth, he spoke about his interest in leading the team in ODI and Test formats.

Vengsarkar said that Kohli’s response in the press conference clearly states that he wanted to keep his side of the statement as well which is why he spoke about the difference in his and Ganguly’s statements.

Virat Kohli Wanted To Make His Case Clear: Dilip Vengsarkar

Kohli denied straightaway that he was never asked to not give up on T20I captaincy. Ganguly had earlier said that the BCCI had requested him to not give up on T20I captaincy. Later the BCCI President clarified that they did not look at two different white-ball captains which is why Kohli was removed as the ODI skipper of the side as ell after giving up on T20I captaincy.

“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.”

“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.”

Virat Kohli Eyeing Test Series Win In South Africa

📸 M🙂🙂D in the camp right now

All smiles here at Centurion 😃#TeamIndia | #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/IOaMfH6h7h

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 21, 2021

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is now entirely focused on the upcoming Test series against South Africa, a country where India are yet to win a series.