Sourav Ganguly should give an explanation: Former India cricketer on Virat Kohli's ODI captaincy row

Virat Kohli contradicted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly in an explosive press conference ahead of the Test series against South Africa. Contrary to Ganguly's comments that the BCCI had president personally spoken to Kohli to convince him not to give up T20I captaincy earlier this year, Kohli said he was never asked not to quit. Kohli also revealed he was informed about his sacking as ODI captain only 90 minutes before the decision was made official.

Kohli has been replaced with Rohit Sharma as ODI captain of the Indian team. Rohit had earlier taken over as India's T20I skipper after Kohli's decision to step down from the post. Ganguly had earlier said the selectors only wanted one white-ball captain leading the side which is why Kohli had to be replaced by Rohit.

However, his claim that Kohli was asked to continue as the T20I captain before stepping down, was labelled false by India's Test skipper himself. The contradicting statements from Kohli and Ganguly have led to a massive row over the change in captaincy with BCCI yet to come up with a response. BCCI president Ganguly had said the board will decide the course of action when asked about Kohli's comments.

Former India cricketer Madan Lal has urged the BCCI president to come out in public and give an explanation. The 1983 World Cup winner believes the selectors could have handled the situation in a better way.

“I think this situation should have been handled in a better way because it is not a controversy but a matter of opinion. I don’t know what Sourav had said to Virat so I don’t want to comment on that," Lal told ANI.

“But I think that Sourav being the president should come out and give an explanation and that will be the end of the entire issue. We need to be focused on the South Africa tour right now as it is an important game for us,” he added.

Also Read: All selectors put together have not played half the number of matches Virat Kohli has: Ex-India all-rounder

The former all-rounder also agreed with Sunil Gavaskar's views on the matter. Gavaskar had said Kohli should sit down with the selectors and the management to sort out the issues. However, Lal insisted the selectors should have communicated with Kohli in a proper way.

“Gavaskar is correct with his point. Virat should clear all his issues with the management. This is not a big matter. I would say that the selectors should have handled the situation better. It is the duty of selectors to look after and stop these controversies. I am not sure if the selectors spoke to Virat before taking the decision,” concluded Lal.