Fans cite similarities between Virat Kohli & Sachin Tendulkar's sacking from captaincy

India Test skipper Virat Kohli made several interesting revelations during his Wednesday press conference ahead of India’s tour of South Africa. At the presser, the 34-year-old cricketer talked about recent events that unfolded in the Indian cricket team and answered questions about the communication he had had with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) before his removal as captain of the Indian ODI team. 

Kohli denied claims that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had asked him to not step down from his T20I captaincy role and added that he had received no prior communication about his removal as ODI captain, which he knew only after Team India’s selection for the Test series against South Africa concluded.

Meanwhile, Kohli’s explosive media interaction has raised a storm on social media. Cricket enthusiasts expressed their views on Kohli's sacking with some fans pointing out similarities between his removal with that of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who was removed from India's ODI captaincy in 1997. Tendulkar led India in the ODIs from August 1996 to December 1997, before leading the team again in 1999.

Whereas, Kohli has led India in a total of 95 ODI matches and won 65 out of them. Rohit Sharma will now lead the Indian team in the ODI and T20I formats, while Kohli will continue his role as Test skipper of India. Rohit was also appointed as the deputy to Kohli in the Test format.

Fans on similarities between Kohli and Tendulkar's sacking

A fan said BCCI once dropped Tendulkar from captaincy without letting him know, and it is unacceptable that a similar thing is happening to Kohli. Another fan tweeted pictures of Kohli and Tendulkar’s statement about being sacked and captioned it by saying BCCI never changes. 

Among the tweets criticising BCCI for the decision, another fan said Tendulkar has written in his book that he was sacked from the captaincy in 1997 without being priorly informed and the same has happened with Kohli. At the same time, the fan also added that Tendulkar went on to score 12 centuries for India in the following year and hoped that Kohli would do something similar in 2022.

(Image: AP)