Virat Kohli vs BCCI: Board says Kohli was kept in loop about captaincy change

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Mumbai, December 16: Virat Kohli, the India Test captain, dropped a hand grenade on Wednesday when he said there was no prior communication to him from BCCI about the captaincy change in the ODIs.

However, the BCCI denied the charge and said Kohli was indeed kept in loop about the change in leadership of Team India.

"Virat Kohli can’t say that we didn’t keep him in the loop. We spoke to Virat in Sept and asked him not to quit the T20 captaincy.

“Once Virat gave up the T20 captaincy on his own, it was difficult to have 2 white ball captains. Chetan Sharma told Virat about the ODI captaincy on the morning of the meeting," a BCCI official was quoted as saying by India Today.

“I was contacted one-and-a-half hour before the Test team selection. The chief selector (Chetan Sharma) discussed the Test team. And in the end, I was told that I won’t be the captain and I said fine. There was no prior communication,” Kohli told reporters in the Indian team’s pre-departure press conference here.

Kohli further detailed. "Whatever was said about the communication that happened during the decision that was made was inaccurate. I was contacted one and half hours before the selection meeting on December 8th for the Test series," said Kohli.

"And there was no prior communication with me since I announced the T20I captaincy decision up till December 8. The chief selector discussed the Test team to which we both agreed.

"Before ending the call, I was told the five selectors decided that I would not be told that I will not be ODI captain. Which I replied 'okay fine'," he further said.

"And in the selection call afterwards we chatted about it briefly this is what happened, there was no communication prior to that at all," he added.

Kohli also said that his decision to quit India's T20I captaincy was received well by the top brass of BCCI but said he was never asked to reconsider his decision.

His statement contradicted that of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly who said he personally asked Kohli to reconsider decision to quit captaincy.