'We felt it will affect World Cup' - Chief selector Chetan Sharma opens up on Virat Kohli's captaincy saga

BCCI Chief selector Chetan Sharma fronted the media on December 31 (Friday) for the first time since Virat Kohli’s pre-departure press conference earlier this month that had sparked the controversy. Kohli had clearly stated that no one told him to reconsider his decision to step down as the T20I captain. The statement was in contrast to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly‘s as well that raised a lot of questions.

Expectedly, Chetan Sharma faced a lot of questions regarding the controversy and he cleared that everyone in the meeting was shocked to hear about Kohli’s decision to step down. He also stated that at that time, all of them told him to think about his decision to step down as the captain. Chetan also cleared that everyone felt that such a step before a World Cup can affect the team’s campaign.

“With the World Cup coming up, that news [of Kohli wanting to step down as T20I captain] surprised us. Everyone in the meeting said that you should think about your decision and we can speak about it after the World Cup. We all felt that it will affect the World Cup,” he said in the press conference.

There is no communication gap, says Chetan Sharma

Chetan Sharma also urged the media to not create controversies while also asserting that there is no communication gap between players, board, team management and the selectors. Moreover, he also cleared the air around Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma saying that everything is fine between them. In terms of white-ball captaincy, the chief selector said that he spoke to Virat Kohli personally and informed him about the selectors’ decision.

“Rohit and Virat are absolutely fine and they plan things together very well to take Indian cricket forward. They eat together, sit together, plan together. I request you all to keep all controversies aside in 2021 and support Team India in 2022. I called Virat Kohli as soon as our selection meeting was over. I informed him that we want one white-ball captain. He agreed with us,” Chetan Sharma further added.