Virat Kohli: ‘No communication on ODI captaincy call’

Putting an end to speculation, Virat Kohli addresses the rumour of him skipping the ODIs next month that are part of the upcoming South Africa tour — “I am available for selection,” he clarified at a press conference on Wednesday.

However, an underlying rift might have grabbed the spotlight wherein he said that he was contacted a mere one-and-a-half hours before the selection committee meet and told that he would no longer be ODI captain.

“I was contacted one-and-a-half hours before selection committee meet. The chief selector discussed the Test team. Before ending the call the selectors told me I won’t be ODI captain and I was fine. There was no prior communication,” Kohli said.

“After the meeting we had a brief chat and that’s it. There was no communicated at all.”

He scrapped all notions of any communication with the BCCI about being rested. “This question should be asked to the people who are writing about this, not me. These are lies. I have not asked BCCI to rest me,” Kohli said.

Curiously, this is in direct contradiction to BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal himself claiming that Kohli had asked to be rested for the ODI series against South Africa.

Kohli added that he was “very motivated” to win a series in South Africa. “We have not done that before. We will do our absolute best to to make it happen,” he emphasized.

India Test captain Kohli, who was recently replaced by Rohit Sharma as the captain of the ODI and T20I teams, was rumoured to have opted out of three-match ODI series against South Africa starting 19 January. As per the report, he had planned to take a short break for personal reasons.

According to a report in Times of India, Kohli had informed the Indian cricket board (BCCI) in advance that he would take a break in early January. Since the ODI series coincides with the first birthday of his daughter, Kohli had communicated that he could not participate in the one day series.

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Over the last two days, speculation has been rife that not all is well between Kohli and Test vice-captain Rohit, who will not play the Tests due to a hamstring injury.

After Rohit was ruled out, reports emerged that Kohli will take a break from the ODI series in the Rainbow Nation to spend some time with his young family.

This was after Rohit was handed the reins of ODI and T20I teams last week in a terse BCCI press release while announcing the Test squad for the series.

Shortly before the T20 World Cup got underway in the UAE, Kohli had announced his decision to step down as India’s T20I captain after the tournament.

Responding to the endless chatter, Kohli said, “A lot of things that happen on the outside are not ideal and not always how one expects them to be. But you have to understand there’s only so much that you can do as an individual and we have to do the things that you can as an individual, in my control show. I’m very focused and very mentally prepared.”