Personally requested Virat Kohli to not give up T20I captaincy: BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

The President of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly said that he had ‘personally requested’ Virat Kohli not to give up the T20I captaincy role. The 33-year-old stepped down as the captain in the shortest format after the World Cup this year. 

Kohli was dropped as India’s ODI skipper. Rohit Sharma will take on the role and will act as the new full-time limited-overs leader. The opener will face his first test when the Men in Blue tour South Africa in December. 

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“It’s like I said… I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up the T20I captaincy. 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. Because I have captained for a long period of time; therefore, I know. Also, they wanted only one white-ball captain. And that’s why this decision. I don’t know what’s going to happen in future. But as I said, it’s a good team and it has some fantastic players and I hope they will turn it around,”  Sourav Ganguly told News 18.

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After stepping down, Kohli had said that workload management was the main reason behind his decision.

“Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for the last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian Team in Test and ODI cricket,” Kohli had stated at the time.

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Ganguly on Thursday admitted that once Virat Kohli refused to continue as India’s T20 captain, the selectors made up their mind to hand the ODI reins to Rohit Sharma as the national team couldn’t afford “too much leadership” with two separate captains in the limited-overs format.

“the selectors felt that they cannot have two white ball captains in two white-ball formats. That’s too much of leadership,” BCCI president and former India captain told PTI.