No mention of Dravid in announcement: Did Kohli quit Test captaincy due to rift with BCCI?

Indian skipper Virat Kohli stunned the world on Saturday after he announced his sudden decision to step down as India's Test captain. Kohli's decision to resign came just days after India failed to win its maiden Test series in South Africa. The 33-year-old issued a statement saying he did his job with "absolute honesty" and that the time was right to step down as India's Test captain. 

Kohli, on the other hand, made no mention of why he abruptly resigned from his leadership position. Kohli's decision to step down as Test captain is a "personal one", according to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who added that the board supports his choice. 

Why did Virat Kohli quit captaincy?

The divide between Kohli and the BCCI could well be one of the reasons for the former World No.1 batter's decision to resign as Test captain suddenly. The alleged rift found some ground after Kohli failed to address the new management in his statement on Saturday, while former head coach Ravi Shastri and ex-India captain MS Dhoni were singled out for special reference. What drew everyone's attention was the absence of current head coach Rahul Dravid's name in Kohli's resignation statement.

Kohli was recently involved in a tussle with the BCCI concerning his captaincy in white-ball formats. Kohli was sacked as ODI skipper just a month after he resigned from India's T20I captaincy following a disappointing T20I World Cup campaign.

When BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was asked about the development, he suggested Kohli was asked not to resign as T20I captain, to which he didn't oblige, which forced the selectors decided to remove him as ODI skipper as they didn't want "too much leadership" in the team.

However, Kohli contradicted Ganguly at a press conference before leaving for Johannesburg to play a bilateral series against South Africa. Kohli said that he was not asked by anyone to reconsider his decision to step down as T20I captain and that he was only informed about the change in leadership in the ODI format just one-and-a-half hours before his call with selectors to pick a squad for the South Africa series.

Team India's chief selector Chetan Sharma came out in public a few days later to refute Kohli's comment that he was not asked to reconsider his decision to quit T20I captaincy. Sharma said that he personally called Kohli to request him to take back his decision but Kohli refused.

Sharma further added that the selection committee was of the opinion to not have two captains in the white-ball format, which is why they decided to appoint Rohit as skipper in the ODIs as well. 

Image: AP