‘Pick up the phone and put the country ahead of yourself’ – Kapil Dev urges Virat Kohli, BCCI to sort out issues

The last few months in Indian cricket have been all about controversies. Virat Kohli, who was leading the side in all formats till five months ago, is now just another player in the team. While it was his decision to step down as T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup 2021, the national selectors sacked him as ODI captain as they wanted a sole skipper (Rohit Sharma) in white-ball cricket.

The biggest shock was Kohli’s resignation as Test captain. Following India’s 1-2 defeat in the Test series against South Africa, the 33-year-old took to social and confirmed his time as Indian captain is over. Now, many cricketers and experts believe that all is still not well between the former skipper and the BCCI since the batting stalwart’s explosive press conference.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had claimed that he “personally requested” Kohli to not step down as T20I captain. However, the veteran batter refuted his claims, saying no such request was made. Speaking about the whole saga, former Indian captain Kapil Dev has urged Kohli and BCCI to solve their issues over a phone call and keep the country ahead of anything else.

Virat Kohli and BCCI should have sorted out the issues between them: Kapil Dev

He also said Kohli’s decision must be respected. “They (Virat Kohli and BCCI) should have sorted out the issues between them. Pick up the phone, talk to each other, put the country and team before yourself. In the beginning, I also got everything I wanted. But sometimes, you may not get it,” the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper was quoted as saying by The Week magazine.

“That should not mean that you leave the captaincy. If he has left it because of that, then I do not know what to say. He is a fabulous player; [I want to] watch him play so much more and score runs, especially in Test cricket,” he added. It must be noted that the Indian team endured a forgettable time in the recently-concluded South Africa tour.

Having won the opening Test by 113 runs, the Virat Kohli-led side kick-started the tour emphatically. However, they went onto lose the next two Tests before suffering a 0-3 whitewash in the ODI series. Hence, many questions have been raised over the team and many believe Kohli’s alleged rift with BCCI has caused the downfall of the national team.