Kohli refutes Ganguly claim about his resignation as India’s T20 captain

Virat Kohli stepped down as India’s T20 captain following their elimination from the T20 World Cup and he has since been removed as ODI skipper

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India star Virat Kohli has refuted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly ‘s claim that was asked to reconsider his decision to step down as T20 captain.

Ahead of the T20 World Cup, Kohli announced that he would be giving up the captaincy after the tournament due to his “immense workload”.

Speaking earlier this month, Ganguly claimed he had “personally requested” that Kohli remain in charge of the T20 side.

However, in a revealing press conference, Kohli has categorically denied Ganguly’s statement, insisting he “wasn’t told to reconsider” his decision.

“I personally requested him not to give up T20 captaincy,” Ganguly had told Indian outlet News 18.

“Obviously, he felt the workload. Which is fine, he has been a great cricketer, he has been very intense with his cricket. He has captained for a long period of time and these things happen.”

However, Kohli has now refuted this, saying: “When I decided to leave the T20I captaincy and approached the BCCI about my decision, it was received well.

“There was no offence or hesitation, I wasn’t told to reconsider it. It was received well; I was told it’s progressive and it’s [a step] in the right direction.

“Then I told them I’d like to continue in Tests and ODIs, unless the office bearers and selectors feel otherwise. My communication was clear in what I wanted to do.”

Following his resignation as T20 captain, Kohli has now been removed as ODI skipper, with Rohit Sharma taking over in both formats.

Kohli has now revealed that he was only informed of the decision to replace him as ODI captain “one and a half hours” before a selection meeting and that “there was no prior communication” from the BCCI.

“Whatever was said about the communication that happened during the decision that was made was inaccurate,” he added.

“I was contacted one and a half hours before the selection meeting on the 8th [of December] for the Test series and there was no prior communication with me at all since I announced the T20I captaincy decision up until 8th Dec when, as I said, I got a call one and a half hours before the selection meeting.

“The chief selector discussed with me the Test team to which we both agreed ..and before ending the call I was told that the five selectors had decided that I would not be the ODI captain, to which I replied: ‘Ok, fine.’ In the selection call afterwards, we chatted about it briefly.”