It is the season of change in India. Chief Ministers are being changed across states. First, Tirath Singh Rawat was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami in Uttarakhand by the BJP. Next, Karnataka bid adieu to B. S. Yediyurappa, and then came the turn of Vijay Rupani in Gujarat. Seeing the stealth and precision with which the BJP could replace its chief ministers, the Congress too unceremoniously got rid of Captain Amarinder Singh as Punjab’s chief minister and replaced him with Charanjit Singh Channi. If chatter is to be believed, the next frontier which could see a rejig is the Indian cricket team. Virat Kohli is purportedly counting his final days as India’s limited-overs captain.
The clock has started ticking for Virat Kohli. According to IANS, since the tour of England, the buzz has been that Virat would be removed from white ball captaincy. It was also a matter of discussion whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was ‘unhappy’ with the skipper. Of course, when contacted, BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal denied all such insinuations. However, the very next day, Kohli put in his papers as India’s T20 captain, effective after the upcoming T20 World Cup.
A Revolt Against Kohli?
IANS emphatically reported that if sources are to be believed, the revolt against Virat had started within the team a few months ago. It has come to light that several senior players in the dressing room were miffed at the attitude of the ace cricketer. Things have gone as far as a senior player of the team complaining to the BCCI secretary against Virat for making him feel ‘insecure’. Virat had reportedly accused the senior cricketer of showing ‘no intent’ during the World Test Championship final against New Zealand.
Interestingly, Kohli’s performance and ability to serve as captain has come under scrutiny within the BCCI after this very championship. Needless to say, whoever the senior player was, his complaint has definitely put the BCCI and its top officials on alert. In a meeting held by the BCCI office-bearers in July after the WTC Final, it emerged that a lot of them are unsatisfied with Virat’s captaincy. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, vice-president Rajiv Shukla, secretary Jay Shah, and the treasurer Arun Dhumal were all a part of the meeting.
Read more: From King Kohli to just Kohli in less than a month
IANS has reported senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the “mutineers” against Virat Kohli. During the tour of England, Virat’s insistence on not including Ashwin in the playing XI, despite the advice of experts, has worsened the woes for the captain. Furthermore, Virat Kohli wanted the inclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal in the T20 team instead of Ashwin. However, the BCCI sternly included Ashwin in the team, and this has only led to the widening of fault lines between Kohli and the cricket board. Additionally, the BCCI’s appointment of MS Dhoni as a mentor for the T20 World Cup team came as a surprise for Kohli and is a clear attempt by the cricket board to rein in the captain’s authority.
BCCI Not Playing Around Anymore
Kohli has not scored an international hundred since November 2019. His clock has been stuck on 70 centuries, refusing to tick further. Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India has attended the ‘Choker’ tag for losing in the semifinals and finals of key tournaments. He has led India in 45 T20s, resulting in just 27 wins. He has neither been able to win an ICC trophy for India nor has his captaincy resulted in an IPL trophy victory for his franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The clock had started to tick in 2019 when Sourav Ganguly took over. At the time, he had sternly reminded Kohli that he needed to win an ICC trophy. Ganguly said, “My only thing is that they need to win big tournaments. They are not going to win every time but they have gone through seven tournaments without winning one,” Now, Ganguly is vouching for Rohit Sharma as India’s next captain, at least immediately in the ODI format.
After his elevation as the BCCI president, Ganguly has brought in an air of discipline in the functioning style of the board as well as the cricket team. Being an ex-captain, he recognised Kohli’s problems regarding his workload. Ganguly understood that Kohli has a new responsibility of being a father and maintaining a healthy work-life balance is almost impossible with the workload of captaincy in all formats. The introduction of cool-headed MS Dhoni as a mentor to the Indian cricket team in the T20 world cup is an indication of how Ganguly’s experience as a player and an administrator is proving to be a boon for India.
Will the Mutiny Be the End of Kohli?
For team players to turn against their captain is really a statement against Kohli’s ability to lead the Indian team. Interestingly, after R Ashwin’s reported complaint to the BCCI against Kohli, the captain has relinquished the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore and the World T20 teams. Given the chatter of BCCI closing in on Kohli’s captaincy across formats, it seems Kohli wanted to convey that the decision to give up the captaincy was by his own accord and that the BCCI played no role in it whatsoever. However, the reality seems quite contradicting. Now, Virat Kohli’s entire career depends on the T20 World Cup. His performance in it will determine whether his captaincy even in one format continues.
Eventually it’s a game. May the boys on the ground do their job and may the best team win!
Success goes to the head very easily and also the media needs to take some blame. It makes a superhero as soon as some player shows some potential.
I am an ardent cricket lover and more so for Team India for 30+ long years.
In general, the author has some sort of a vendetta against Kohli, I got this while reading thru his previous articles on the subject of cricket.
Kohli is next to Kapil dev & Ganguly in raising Indian cricket standards and Indian cricket identity and a unique revolution in cricket fitness + obviously his superb batting skill in all 3 formats. The T20 world cup result doesn’t make a iota of difference for Kohli’s career. He is still the world’s best batsman/ captain in Test & ODI’s.
My only request to the author is to do a pragmatic analysis before throwing mud on these outstanding sports persons like Virat Kohli.
Everyone has got a point of view . We should not forget the feats achieved by India’s tour to Australia without Virat & with a depleted and injured team we created history. There could be a reason behind the revolt ( revolt is always by a group ) and may have several factors.
What is more important to you and me is that our team performs well which brings us happiness especially in these days of despair. The result is always a collective effort where everyone needs to back each other especially when one member has a bad day.
Cricket is such an unpredictable sport which makes it all the more exciting unlike any other support.
Virat will rank among the top sporting personalities who ever lived . He will surely leave a legacy behind when he hangs up his shoes. So these type of reports will not take away anything away from him .
Bullshit.
Kohli is worst. Good batsman that’s all.
Wow well said politics is not cricket
Some nice way to put the author’s article, but my contention was that the author is predicting or assuming that Virat Kohli’s career is over ?? which is not. Not yet :) I totally agree that everyone has their opinion and I respect that. Similarly I have my opinion and requesting being an author to do a pragmatic analysis and release the article, right ?
And the pragmatic analysis would include the so called Senior cricketers in our current Indian team and their skill level, team attitude, etc. Otherwise, we will become like Pakistan team, having ‘n’ number of infights !!
I love kohli I hope he keeps playing he and ab de Villiers developed an attitude and our s African board got rid of him. Ditto bcci. It’s ipl professional cricket is not the same as playing for your country
Dada is right kohli is a good batsman, not a good captain, even though in his era most teams at international levels are going through transit phose thus opponent teams are not as strong as in times of Dada, Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag, thus centuries were relatively easy to score. Man management is poor thus commands no respect from colleages, tried playing dirty politics ganging with Shastri to get Rahul/Pant appointed as VC to eliminate challenge being posed by Rohit. Cheap mselfish mentality…should be removed from test captaincy too…sooner or later it will happen,writing is on the wall.
Yes. I agree with you. Virat’s 70 centuries are equal to just 15-20 centuries scored during the Fan era. Such strong were the teams during that time. Kohli is more interested in show off than cricket. Useless Captain
Where does this nonsense him along with shastri trying to appoint KL/pant as VC even come from? Some fake news sources? If you rely on fake news rumours to make your mind on a player then the fault is with you.
Those greats scored a lot of East centuries against easy teams on easy pitches as well not just kohli.
Even dhoni had problem with some players during his captaincy, so was he not a good man manager? Kohli has the utmost respect almost all players that plays under him. Virat having problem with ashwin is not much different from the problem dhoni had with sehwag. Sometimes it happens.
Yes. I agree with you. Virat’s 70 centuries are equal to just 15-20 centuries scored during the Fab4 era. Such strong were the teams during that time. Kohli is more interested in show off than cricket. Useless Captain
The old adage “What goes around comes around” applies to Kohli. People have very short memory. Kohli unceremoniously booted out Kumble from coaching job just because he did not like his style of coaching. BCCI should have realised that they were creating a leader with huge ego and this will not end nicely. The humility of Kumble should be appreciated as he never commented on the episode ever after making his initial statement. Kohli is an excellent player and a good captain on the ground but a very average leader. Leadership change is good for the team as it brings in new thinking and strategy. Let us move on to the next era of cricket.
I love kohli I hope he keeps playing he and ab de Villiers developed an attitude and our s African board got rid of him. Ditto bcci. It’s ipl professional cricket is not the same as playing for your country
Bullshit. Ashwin is an over emotional and over sensitive guy …. imagine him contemplatin retiremrnt just cuz Shastri said he wasnt the top choice spinner and Kuldeep yadav was …. doesnt he have self confidence? dude, doesnt he have a thicker skin … in competitive sport you got to cuz if u get praise you also get brickbats … you cant be a crybaby and expect mollycoddling. Its in fact Ashwin who s coming across as a pampered kid.
The other aspect is it was in Kohlis vision and in order to win test matches and series abroad, he had to breed fast bowlers much akin to how Clive Llyod went about building his killer pacers. We have seen hoe India is winning tests and series abroad with consistency and aplomb … something that no other indian team and Captian could. Kohli is not your street urchin, TFI, that you are running such a vile hit job on him – why because we was woke enuf to comment on diwalis? A lot of us are woke unknowingly because or our past when foreign invader ruled our country and phyche and told us that everything Hindu is bad. Or is it because your right wing mind is so myopic that you cannot fathom that he has brought in some talented muslim pacers?
Third, Ashwin like most indian finger spinners, were most lethal in sub continent conditions and very less in foreign conditions. Name a test squad without Ashwin in tests played in India. Even Kumble was mediocre in foreign conditions. Besides, Ashwin has had fitness issues … numerous abroad series in which Ashwin was playing but pulled out midway due to some injury or the other.
Fourth, in Kohlis calculatuon, Jadeja was a better option in foreign conditions … he is left hander … a more attacking bat and somewhat more solid too … and he is a more that useful left arm spinner than the orthodox finger spinner that Ashwin is. Jadeja would hold up one end, maintain tight lines and give away little runs and pick up useful wickets or too while pacers wiped out the rest of the opposition.
Fifth, Jadeja also has an X factor matched by none in the Indian team – his electric fielding … he takes stunning impossible catches but more importantly, effects brilliant run outs on a regular basis. We know more than anything, run outs are a heart breaker for the opposition and how one run out changes the complete momentum of a match.
So TFI stop being a cry baby like Ashwin and stop your motivated and mailcious reporting on Kohli. Bring some objectivity. Its not that Kohli is without fault but u r focussion in the wrong places. Grow up.