Sourav Ganguly: ‘Had requested Virat not to step down as T20I captain’

The BCCI on Wednesday named Rohit the captain of the ODI side going into the 2023 ODI World Cup and Ganguly, in an interaction with PTI, opened up on the issue, asserting that the incumbent was spoken to and duly accepted the decision.

“We had requested Virat not to step down as T20 captain but he didn’t want to continue as captain. So, the selectors felt that they cannot have two white ball captains in two white-ball formats. That’s too much of leadership,” BCCI president and former India captain told PTI.

Kohli stepped down as T20 captain after India’s disastrous World Cup campaign in October-November.

Ganguly said the selectors felt that multiple leaders in the white-ball format would lead to confusion and that’s why the Chetan Sharma-led committee suggested that it’s better to have one leader.

“I don’t know (about confusion) but that’s what they (selectors) felt. That’s how this conclusion was arrived at — that let Rohit captain in white ball and let Virat be the red-ball skipper,” Ganguly added.