The last few days at the BCCI headquarters must have been chaotic as president Sourav Ganguly and Test captain Virat Kohli have had completely opposite things to say on the same topic.

3 days ago, Ganguly told News 18 that he had personally requested Kohli to not give up on the T20 captaincy and since he did not agree to that, they had to let him go as the leader of the side across limited-over formats because the administration wanted one skipper for white-ball cricket.

I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up the T20I captaincy. Obviously, he felt the workload. Which is fine, he has been a great cricketer, he has been very intense with his cricket… Also, they wanted only one white-ball captain. And that’s why this decision.

Kohli did not respond. Until he was sitting in a press conference and outrightly refuted the claims. First of all, he said that he had discussed his ODI captaincy while he was giving up on the T20 leadership, which according to him was well received.

I told the BCCI before giving up T20I captaincy. I told them my point of view. The BCCI received it very well. There was no offence. It was received well, saying it’s a progresive step. I told them I will continue as ODI captain and Test captain. I told them at that point clearly that if the office bearers or the selectors don’t want me to handle either of the responsibility, I am fine with it. I said this clearly when I approached the BCCI to discuss my T20I captaincy.

And then he added: 

Whatever was said, I was contacted 1 and half hours before the meeting. There was no communication. The chief selector discussed the Test team. Before ending the call, I was told the five selectors told me I will not be ODI captain. Which is fine.

To summarise, this is Kohli’s version of events: he wasn’t requested to reconsider giving up the T20 captainship. Also, BCCI’s decision to not have him around as the ODI skipper wasn’t as organic and smooth as it was made out to be by Ganguly. They literally gave Virat a half-an-hour notice, if it could be called that. 

Hindustan Times

This has people wondering who is telling the truth because, from the looks of it, this doesn’t seem like a ‘misunderstanding’ even to the most optimistic ones among us.

Here are some of the reactions to the issue. Safe to say, things have blown up.

As a supporter of the national cricket team, one wants nothing more than a peaceful resolution right now – but that should not come at the cost of lies prevailing over truth.

Accountability is the need of the hour, and we hope it is demanded emphatically.