‘BCCI will deal with it’: Sourav Ganguly declines comment on Virat Kohli press conference

Kolkata: A day after India Test captain Virat Kohli triggered a storm by publicly contradicting him, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly refused to comment on the matter, saying the Board will deal with it. Kohli, during his pre-departure press conference ahead of the tour of South Africa, said that he was never asked to stay on as T20 skipper when he made his intent clear on relinquishing the post. This was in complete contrast to Ganguly’s assertion a few days back that Kohli had been requested to not quit the position. [caption id=“attachment_8954541” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Sourav Ganguly. Sportzpics[/caption] “No statements, no press conference. We will deal with it, leave it to (the) BCCI,” Ganguly told local mediapersons on Thursday. There are hardly any instances in the past where it becomes a choice between the word spoken by a sitting captain, who is also the reigning superstar of Indian cricket, against a decorated former skipper, who holds the chair of the president. It is reliably learnt that the senior BCCI office-bearers, including Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah were engaged in a zoom call on Wednesday where a collective decision was taken that none would do a press conference or issue a press release. “Expert opinion was taken on how to deal with the sensitive matter as it also involves the respect of a president’s office. The BCCI knows that a Test series is round the corner and any hasty decision or statement from them could affect the morale of the team,” a senior BCCI source told. It is understood that no one in BCCI is happy at what transpired on Wednesday but they also understand that any strong reaction in their bid to do a quick-fix could be counter-productive. There was talk of BCCI asking chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma to address the media after Kohli’s explosive press conference but the Board eventually refrained from making any counter statements. Kohli’s comments on Wednesday brought to fore the underlying tension in his equation with the administrators. “Whatever was said about the communication that happened about the decision that was made was inaccurate,” Kohli had said with obvious reference to Ganguly’s statement. “When I left the T20 captaincy, I had first approached BCCI and intimated them of my decision and laid down my point of view in front of them (office bearers). “I gave the reasons why I wanted to quit T20 captaincy and my view point was received very nicely. There was no offence, no hesitation and not for once was I told that ‘you should not leave T20 captaincy’,” he had asserted. Earlier, Ganguly, in an interview to PTI, said that he had spoken to Kohli and told him that two captains in the white ball format was not something that the selectors wanted as there would be “too much of leadership.” Rohit Sharma is now the sole white-ball captain and has also been made Kohli’s deputy in the Test format. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram