DNA Special: Virat's anger with decision on captaincy

You see the news of politics in our country every day. Because we have politics in everything here. Today, we will tell you about the politics of cricket. You would think that cricket is a game. But the game of politics plays out in this game too. Today, Virat Kohli exposed the political game going on in cricket by holding a press conference. Kohli said that he was told just one and a half hours before he was stripped of the captaincy of the ODI team. Virat Kohli has said many such things today, which BCCI and Sourav Ganguly may not like. Let us tell you what four big things Virat Kohli has said today.

The first thing he has said is that he wanted to remain the captain of the team in the ODI format till the year 2023. Secondly, he was told only one and a half hours before the BCCI's Selection Committee meeting on December 8 that he would no longer be the captain of the ODI team like T20. That is, he was not removed from the captaincy, but the captaincy has been taken away from him, this is what he is trying to say.

He never said that he would not be available for the South Africa tour and wanted to rest during this time. He has called all these things a rumour and has also said that he had told BCCI about it. India is to play the first match against South Africa on December 26.

And the last thing is that Virat Kohli has rubbished all the news of differences with Rohit Sharma and said that he is tired of giving clarification on this. That is, on the one hand, he expresses surprise and questions the decision of BCCI and on the other hand, he also denies the news of differences with Rohit Sharma.

However, on this, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had said in one of his statements that there cannot be different captains in the white-ball format. Hence this decision has been taken. But now, it is known that the real reason behind this decision was politics.

Now the big question is why Virat Kohli was suddenly removed from the captaincy? Try to understand it in three points. These are the things that some players of the Indian team have told us off the record. We are not telling the names of these players, but what they have told us, that you should know.

We have come to know that there was a lot of anger towards Virat Kohli among the other players of the team. There are allegations against Virat that he favoured his favourite players and also made space for them in the team. While under his captaincy, several players were not given a chance, who actually deserved to play in the team. Here are some examples.

Cricketer Ambati Rayudu was performing well before the 2019 ODI World Cup, but when the team was selected for the World Cup, it was decided to bring in all-rounder Vijay Shankar in his place. It is said that Virat Kohli himself had consented to this decision. Ambati Rayudu was not given a place in the team even when Vijay Shankar and Shikhar Dhawan were injured. Cricketers Mayank Agarwal and Rishabh Pant were given a chance in their place. Disappointed by this, Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement from international cricket.

Similarly, another player Kuldeep Yadav was also not given a place in the team despite his good performance. In his place, Yuzvendra Chahal was given the opportunity again and again, who is considered to be the favourite of Virat Kohli. We have been told that these players, including Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, had complained to the BCCI against Virat Kohli's style of work and his arbitrariness.

The second point is that it is being told that when Virat Kohli started his arbitrariness in all the big decisions, other players started forming groups against him and all these players went in support of Rohit Sharma. It is also said that the player whose wife would have a fight with Anushka Sharma, the bad days of that player would start. That's why all these players together decided to support Rohit Sharma.

And the third point is that when Vinod Rai was had the command of BCCI, Virat Kohli's status in the team was very impressive. But things changed after Sourav Ganguly became the president and it became difficult for Kohli to do team selection and other things on his own. Some players of the team have told us this off the record.

After Sourav Ganguly became the president, first the jurisdiction of Virat Kohli was limited and then the KRA of former head coach Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli was set. He was told that he has not won a single ICC tournament in his tenure and he will have to prove it by winning the T20 World Cup this year. But Virat Kohli could not do this and his hold on the captaincy became weak.

However, it is not the first time that the name of Virat Kohli is in the news for politics. Before Ravi Shastri, when former cricketer Anil Kumble was the head coach of the team, there were also reports of his differences with Kohli.

Kumble had resigned as the coach in the year 2017 before the completion of his tenure after the Champions Trophy. At that time, Kumble had said that Virat Kohli has objections to his continuing as a coach, so it is better to leave his post. Apart from this, according to some media reports, after the defeat of the Champions Trophy in the year 2017, Virat Kohli had said derogatory words while opposing Kumble.