Ganguly said that he had asked Kohli not to step down as T20 captain and that they had no plans to replace him, but things changed when Kohli vacated the T20 captaincy.
When the selectors were informed of Kohli’s decision, the selectors did not agree with the practice of having two captains in both formats of limited overs cricket. The selectors are of the view that the Twenty20 captaincy and the ODI captaincy should not be separated. Ganguly said that was how Kohli was removed from the post of ODI captain and replaced by Rohit Sharma.
Kohli’s response suggests that Ganguly’s claim that he lost his ODI captaincy was due to his resignation as T20 captain. Kohli had informed the BCCI that he was stepping down as T20 captain and would continue to lead India’s ODI and Test teams, and the board accepted Kohli’s decision. But it was only later that Rohit Sharma was announced as the ODI captain.
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If the selectors had decided not to continue with the captaincy in ODIs, he would have had no problem with that. There was no difficulty in acknowledging that. But this could have been mentioned earlier, Kohli said at a press conference.
At the same time, he said he could not say that batting would get better with the departure of the captain and was proud to bat as captain. Kohli said that he has worked sincerely as the captain and will continue to help the team move forward by bringing out the best in him.
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Kohli has said that there will be an ODI series in South Africa. “I am not leaving the team and I am ready to play for the Indian team at any time,” Kohli told reporters. Kohli added that he is looking forward to the South African series and is very excited to prepare for the series.
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“Rohit Sharma is a great captain and we have seen that in the IPL and in some of the matches he has led India.
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