New Delhi, India

Former India captain and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly broke silence on replacing Virat Kohli with Rohit Sharma as all-format skipper during his tenure. Ganguly said going by how things unfolded surrounding the captaincy saga involving Virat, everyone on social media criticised and abused him, adding that since India won the T20 World Cup under Rohit, everyone seems to have forgotten who took that call in the first place.

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In 2021, ahead of the T20 World Cup in the UAE, Kohli announced his decision to step down from T20I captaincy, citing workload management as the reason behind it. 

With Team India exiting the tournament inside the Group Stages after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand, a few shocking calls afterwards took the nation by surprise, as a few months later, Kohli announced he was stepping down from the ODI and Test captaincy.

Meanwhile, Kohli, during an explosive presser on the 2021/22 South Africa Tour, admitted he was informed 90 minutes before the team selection meeting (for Proteas ODIs) that he was being replaced by Rohit as the ODI captain. That statement, however, contradicted what made headlines later, with several reports suggesting that Kohli knew about this decision change much before. 

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After losing the Test series, he decided to quit Test captaincy as well.

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The then BCCI President, Ganguly, faced plenty of flak for how things unfolded with Kohli, with fans bashing and abusing the former India great for his apparent ego clashes with Virat.

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Three years later since that episode, and at a time when under Rohit and former head coach Rahul Dravid India won the T20 World Cup in the Americas, Ganguly reflected on the same and said, “When I handed Rohit Sharma the captaincy of the Indian team, everyone criticised me,” Ganguly said in a chat with Aaj Tak. 

“Now that India has won the T20 World Cup under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, everyone has stopped abusing me for it. In fact, I think everyone has forgotten that it was I who appointed him as the captain of the Indian team,” he continued.

A new era begins in Indian Cricket

With the conclusion of the 20-team tournament in the USA and West Indies, Dravid’s tenure as head coach ended, and Rohit also announced his decision to quit T20Is. 

Although he continues to lead Team India in ODIs and Tests, someone new will replace him as India’s T20I captain; that decision, however, will now be taken under the new head coach and former two-time World Cup-winner, Gautam Gambhir. 

Gautam will take over the proceedings from the white-ball Sri Lanka Tour, including three T20Is and as many ODIs, starting July 27. 

(With inputs from agencies)