Kohli lost ODI captain as India wanted the only white ball skipper: Ganguly
Virat Kohli's decision to abandon the 20-over captains resulted in his being dismissed as India's one-day skipper because the selectors didn't want two different white ball captains, said Sourav Ganguly, chief of the board of cricket Control of India (BCCI).
Opener Rohit Sharma took over the post of one-day captain on Wednesday, a month after taking over from Kohli as T20 skipper after his disappointing World Cup season.
The board, which rarely explains routine decisions itself, does not even mention Kohli by name when it announces the change in leadership in a single sentence at the end of a press release announcing the test team for the upcoming South Africa tour.
“The board and the selection team asked Virat to reconsider his decision to leave the T20 captaincy. He had rejected the proposal at the time, ”said former Captain Ganguly of the Times of India on Friday.
"Voters were uncomfortable with the idea of having two captains for white ball cricket." India reached the semi-finals of the 50 overs World Cup under Kohli in 2019, but dropped out of the group stage at this year's Twenty20 World Cup.
Kohli, who is still the test captain, is happy to play under Rohit at the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia next year, but wanted to lead India in the 50-overs showpiece on home soil in 2023.
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“He even did well as the ODI captain. But it wasn't going to be easy to have two white ball cricket captains with two world championships in two years, ”said Ganguly.
"Voters felt the team needed a vision and different caption styles could disrupt the planning," Ganguly said, adding that he and Chief Selector Chetan Sharma spoke with Kohli before making the change.
“We explained the vision to him. He understood the situation and only then was Rohit appointed captain of the ODI team. "