'That's why he is as good as he is'- Tabraiz Shamsi sides with Virat Kohli amid captaincy row

Uncertainty seems to have clouded Indian cricket at the moment. Post the removal of Virat Kohli as the one-day captain, the fans have been divided into two sides. While one section of the Indian fans are on the side of the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, the others feel that the Indian Test captain was disrespected.

Amidst all the chaos, both of them have given two separate statements about the same thing. After Rohit Sharma replaced the 33-year-old as the new ODI skipper, Ganguly had said that he had spoken to Kohli, and told him that two captains in the white-ball format were not something that the selectors wanted as there would be “too much of leadership.” However, in a shocking turn of events, the batting maestro had a contradicting story to share.

During a press conference on Wednesday, he said that no one asked him not to leave T20 captaincy. Moreover, contrary to the claims, he even said that he was never told that he’d be axed as the ODI skipper till chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma intimated him 90 minutes before the scheduled Test team selection meeting for the South Africa tour.

Tabraiz Shamsi comes in support of Virat Kohli

Proteas spinner Shamsi however seems to be on the side of his former skipper. As he played four games under the former RCB captain during his stint with the Bangalore-based franchise, he is well aware of his blunt attitude. The chinaman recently quoted a tweet that spoke about India’s red-ball captain.

The tweet read “The safer option for Virat would’ve been to side with Ganguly’s version of the story. Clearly, Virat isn’t that kind of a person, on and off the field.”. Quoting this tweet, Shamsi said, “This is why he is as good as he is”.

Ironically, the Delhi batter went on to say that the BCCI called his move to quit the T20I captaincy a progressive move, and didn’t go against his decision. “There was no offence, no hesitation, and not for once was I told that ‘you should not leave T20 captaincy’, On the contrary, the BCCI called it a progressive step and in the right direction. At that time I had communicated that yes, I would like to continue in Tests and ODIs unless office-bearers and selectors think that I shouldn’t carry on with this responsibility.” said Kohli in his latest presser.