Everyone told Virat Kohli not to quit captaincy: Chetan Sharma

“When meeting started, it was a surprise for everybody. If the World T20 is round the corner and you hear something like this, what will be your reaction? Everyone present in that meeting had told him that he should think hard about his decision (to quit T20 captaincy) and we can talk about it after the World Cup,” Chetan answered a query from PTI during a media conference after the ODI team selection.

In fact, everyone told him to continue for “sake of Indian cricket”, but apparently, he had made up his mind.

“All selectors felt at that time that this can affect us in the World Cup. It was told to Virat for sake of Indian cricket, please continue as the captain and it was told by everybody (BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah) present in the meeting.

As soon as selection committee meeting got over, I immediately called up Virat. We didn’t want to inform in the selection meeting and that’s why I called him when our meeting was over and this is what selectors are saying and there will be one white-ball captain and there were a couple of questions and we had good conversations.

“He (Kohli) agreed on that. What we discuss I can’t disclose it here and we had a good chat. When it comes to planning, our thought process was we need one white-ball captain.

“He came at (Test selection) meeting around 5:30 pm and we had informed him before that. It was hard decision for us and we have to take some hard decision and that’s what we are here for. Sometimes those are need of the hour.”

Earlier Virat Kohli contradicted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s claimes that he was not asked by anyone to quit the T20 captaincy and was informed about his removal from ODI leadership just 90 minutes before the selection of the Test squad for the tour of South Africa.

About grooming KL Rahul for the future, Chetan Sharma in the press conference said: “Yes, definitely we are looking at KL Rahul at the present. He is a three format player and he got a good experience of captaincy and he has proved his leadership qualities, this is what all selectors think.”

Captaincy comes with a lot of responsibility and the Karnataka lad is used to it as he has already captained the Punjab Kings team in the Indian Premier League.

“Like Rohit is not fit and we thought KL will be the best who can handle the side and that’s why we have good confidence in Rahul and we are grooming him,” Sharma added.

India’s tour of South Africa, 2021-22, consists of two series: the Test and One-Day International series, taking place from December 26 to January 23, 2022, across four venues. Visitors currently have a lead of 1-0 in the Test series, after the historic triumph at Centurion.

The three-match ODI series will begin on January 19 at Boland Park, Paarl. The second ODI match will happen on Jan 21 at the same venue and the third ODI will be at Newlands, Cape Town on January 23.

*With inputs from agencies