Less than a week has elapsed since India captain Virat Kohli announced his decision to relinquish the team’s leadership following the 2021 T20 World Cup. But in that small period of time, a lot has been made about Kohli’s choices- recent as well as old; as several sources close to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have come up with interesting claims about Kohli and his captaincy.
Reports about Virat Kohli rife following his decision to give up captaincy
The viral news yesterday was that Kohli allegedly suggested the BCCI to strip Rohit Sharma of the team’s vice-captaincy. However, the big news doing rounds of social media today is that Kohli and the BCCI had a heated argument about Shikhar Dhawan’s inclusion in the ODI team in India’s home series against England earlier this year.
As per sources, moments after Kohli announced his decision to quit captaincy on Twitter, several reports were leaked which suggested that Kohli had a tumultuous relationship with the Indian cricket board. One of these reports went at length to talk about the BCCI’s scuffle with Kohli during India and England’s white-ball assignment in March 2021.
“Much of it could be put down to what transpired during India’s home series against England. Dhawan wasn’t considered by the newly-appointed (at that time) selection committee even in his best format- the ODIs. They were looking at grooming potential prospects for the future,” the report stated.
The report further speculates that one of Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal would’ve received an ODI call-up ahead of Dhawan. Both of these players had productive Vijay Hazare Trophy campaigns in the month prior; scoring 827 and 737 runs respectively. Kohli, however, was exceptionally insistent on playing Dhawan in ODIs. In fact, he even got in a heated debate with the team management that led to a five-day postponement in the team’s announcement.
BCCI wanted Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal; Kohli fought to get Shikhar Dhawan in the team
“One of their main choices was an opener who had performed well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Although the player’s name isn’t revealed according to the reports, it’s assumed to be either Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal. However, 32-year-old Kohli insisted on having Dhawan as the partner of Rohit Sharma at the top.
“The debate got heated during the March meetings. The squad was already picked but the BCCI waited for five days to make the announcement since a general consensus hadn’t been reached. Sources in the know believe that this is just a one-off occurrence and that the management and Kohli stand on good terms,” the report concluded.
For what it is worth, Dhawan did justify the faith Kohli invested in him. The southpaw-opener scored 169-runs from 3 innings and compiled 2 fine half-centuries to end up as the 3rd highest run-getter of the series. In fact, his rejuvenated form in the England ODIs and the IPL that followed even prompted the selectors to name him stand-in captain for India’s limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka in July.