Tags: India,
Virat Kohli,
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly,
Chetan Sharma
Published on: Feb 14, 2023
BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma was heard making some shocking claims in a recent sting operation by Zee News. He claimed that Sourav Ganguly did not like Virat Kohli even though it was not the case of him favoring Rohit Sharma. Sharma alleged that Kohli had a big ego and felt he lost the captaincy because of Ganguly. He added it was because of this ego clash that he spoke against the then BCCI chief at a controversial press conference ahead of India’s 2021-22 tour of South Africa.
back his decision to quit T20 captaincy. At the press conference, though, Kohli claimed that no such interaction ever happened. He also stated that he was informed of his sacking as ODI captain 1.5 hours before the selection meeting for the South Africa Tests.
Sharma was heard saying in the sting video, “Any row between player and BCCI President is dangerous as it becomes players vs BCCI. Out of this who is wrong is judged later, but it becomes an attack on BCCI directly. All players are warned that the harm will come to players only.”
“Virat Kohli felt he lost the captaincy because of BCCI President. There were 9 people in the selection committee video conference, Ganguly may have told him ‘think about it once’. I think Kohli didn’t hear it, there were 9 others there including myself and all other selectors, BCCI officials – Kohli might not have heard him
On the controversial statements Kohli made at the press conference, Sharma claimed that the then Test captain did it on purpose as he wanted to get back at Ganguly. The 57-year-old elaborated, “The PC before leaving for South Africa is about the team but why he bought the topic of captaincy I don’t know, maybe Kohli did it on purpose.
“The truth is Kohli was lying, Ganguly told him to think over it. Why Kohli lied, no one knows till now. It became a controversy, it was Board vs Player. Why he lied, maybe he felt Sourav Ganguly played a big hand in Virat Kohli losing the white-ball captaincy.”
The chief selector also alleged that certain players took injections to reduce their recovery time from injury, claiming players played with 80 percent fitness. Sharma commented, “The players are not fit but they take injections to play. They are ready to play even at 80 per cent fitness. They take injections and start playing.
“Even if they are around 85 percent fit, they will say ‘Sir let us play’ but they are not cleared by the medical team that is where the problem lies. The players always want to play, they never refuse to play. Bumrah could not even bend so what can he do? 1-2 such major injuries happen. Otherwise even at 80 percent (fitness) they are so naughty that they quietly sneak into a corner and take the injection and say ‘Sir we are fit’.”
–By A Cricket Correspondent
