Virat Kohli’s sacking from ODI captaincy has polarized the cricketing world. There are some who felt Kohli should have been dropped a long ago, and there are also a few who felt BCCI has only made a blunder removing Kohli from the spot. Former India coach Madan Lal is among the latter. “I don’t know what the selectors have thought about this, but if he [Kohli] is producing the right results then why [change him]? I can understand T20s [he stepped down as captain] because there is so much of cricket and he can concentrate on two other formats,” Lal was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Kohli’s sacking came at a time when he was having a sensational run in ODIs. India had reached the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy, reached semi-finals of 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. The last series India played under him, they beat England in March 2021.
In the end, Lal, who himself won the 1983 World Cup, said that the decision is bound to ‘pinch’ Kohli who surely would have hoped to lead the side in 2023 home World Cup. “But if you are successful and still you are removed, it will of course pinch him. I was thinking Kohli would have stayed [as captain] till the 2023 World Cup. It is very difficult to build a team, but easier to destroy it,” he added.
Earlier BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had revealed that Kohli was asked not to step down from T20I captaincy, but he chose not to listen. He made it clear that selectors didn’t want any confusion with split captaincy in place. Meanwhile Madan Lal wasn’t satisfied with Ganguly’s justification. “I don’t understand why would there be confusion. Every captain has a different style, so confusion is for what. The style will anyway change in Test and limited-overs. Virat and Rohit have their own style of leading the teams. MS Dhoni too had his own style. At the international level, it is about professionalism and performing all the time.”
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