Amid Virat Kohli-BCCI row, Subramanian Swamy demands Bharat Ratna for India's Test captain

Amid the shocking claims made by Virat Kohli in his press conference earlier on Wednesday, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy backed the Indian Test skipper asserting that there was no need to treat him like an 'employee' of the BCCI. Lauding Kohli as a 'good batsman', Swamy stated that he instead deserved a Bharat Ratna like cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar. 

Swamy's statement came in response to a tweet put out by a netizen who had questioned why BCCI treated Indian captain and players in a 'shabby manner.' "Why does BCCI treat its captain and players in such a shabby manner, after playing for India with so much of zeal and passion," he had asked.

Virat Kohli breaks silence over inclusion in South Africa tour

Countering all previous statements made by the BCCI regarding the South Africa series and his captaincy, Virat Kohli on Wednesday addressed a fiery press conference alleging that he was kept in dark over his ouster as the ODI cricket captain.  “I was contacted one-and-a-half hour before the Test team was selected. There was no prior communication. The chief selector discussed the Test team. And in the end, I was told that I won’t be the captain and I said it's fine. After the meeting, we had a brief chat and that's it,” revealed the 33-year old.

This explosive revelation came in complete contrast to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly's previous clarifications where he had labelled the change in captaincy as Virat's call. Ganguly had told ANI, "It's a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats."

However, hours later the BCCI president was confronted on Virat's latest claims during which he refused to issue a response on the matter. Sourav Ganguly was seen leaving the scene without answering any questions from the media on Wednesday in Kolkata. 

Burying rumours of a rift between him and hitman Rohit Sharma, Kohli asserted that he had no issues with Rohit, and added that he was tired of answering these questions repeatedly.

Image: BCCI/PTI