Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said
the relations between Virat Kohli and former India coach Ravi Shastri were not
great in the lead up to the T20 World Cup and that caused India’s group-stage exit from the tournament. He said BCCI was aware of the fact that Kohli would
step down as India’s T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup and current India
head coach Rahul Dravid would replace Shastri, somthing that could have been as a result of frosty relations.

Kohli in September announced that he would
step down as India T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup in the UAE. India lost
to Pakistan and New Zealand and made exit from the marquee event.

“I said this even before the match,
that this statement of leaving captaincy after the tournament… it is not good.
You have to play a big event and this shows that there is pressure on you and
you are not comfortable. They all knew that after this tournament, Shastri was
to get replaced by Dravid,” Inzamam said on Pakistani news channel ARY
News.

Inzamam said such changes should not happen
before a marquee tournament like the T20 World Cup. It shows that the BCCI,
Kohli and Shastri were not on good terms.

“This should not happen before a big
event. Your authority gets challenged. And this means that relations between
Kohli, Shastri and board were not great. If India were to win the T20 World
Cup, would they have removed the captain and coach? There was some problem
between them,” the former Pakistan captain said.

Talking about the India-Pakistan World T20
match, Inzamam, who retired from international cricket in 2007 after playing
378 ODIs, 120 Tests and a T20I, said, “Our fast bowlers always stamp their
authority on India. We have always had a good pace battery. Every team is a
little apprehensive about facing Pakistani fast bowlers.”