‘I didn’t remove him…’ – Sourav Ganguly’s audacious statement on Virat Kohli’s captaincy departure

Former Indian Cricket Board President Sourav Ganguly revealed that he has not removed Virat Kohli from the captaincy. Notably, former India skipper Virat Kohli stepped down from the leadership in 2021 when Team India failed to enter the playoffs of the T20 World Cup 2021 after suffering back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand in the UAE.

However, the Indian Cricket Board decided to give the captaincy to Rohit Sharma after Virat Kohli stepped down from the leadership role. Notably, a plethora of fans and cricketers believed that Sourav Ganguly was responsible for removing Virat Kohli from the leadership role, but he went on to clarify the same many times.

Notably, Virat Kohli was appointed as the captain in all three formats after MS Dhoni stepped down back in January 2017. Team India was able to get into the final of the Champions Trophy back in 2017, where the side lost to Pakistan under the leadership of Virat Kohli. In addition, Virat Kohli-led India suffered a defeat in the first semi-final game of the 2019 ODI World Cup.

I didn’t remove Virat from the captaincy: Sourav Ganguly

However, Sourav Ganguly once again revealed the whole situation about Virat Kohli’s departure from the leadership role. The legendary cricketer clarified that he had not removed Virat Kohli from the captaincy. In addition, the 51-year-old cricketer says that Virat Kohli was reluctant to lead in T20Is, so he told him to step down from the white-ball series. Moreover, the former batting legend wanted to keep him the Test skipper owing to his magnificent wins in Test cricket for Team India under his leadership.

“I didn’t remove Virat from the captaincy. I have said this a lot of times. He was not interested in leading in T20Is. So, after he made that decision, I told him, if you’re not interested in leading in T20Is, it’s better if you step down from entire white-ball cricket. Let there be a white-ball captain and a red-ball captain,” Sourav Ganguly said on the reality show Dadagiri Unlimited Season 10.