Noida: Former India batsman and 1983 World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev was enraged by Virat Kohli’s recent comments during the pre-departure press conference for the tour to South Africa, and he slammed both the senior Indian batsman and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly for openly criticizing each other.
“It is not good to point fingers on anybody at this point in time. The South Africa tour is coming and please pay attention to the tour,” Kapil told ABP News when asked about Kohli’s remarks.
“I would say Board president is Board president but yes the Indian cricket team captain is also a big thing. But talking badly about each other in public, I don’t think it is a good thing, whether it is Sourav or Kohli,” he added.
Kapil urged the 33-year-old to rather control the situation and put the country ahead of these issues. “Please control the situation and it’s better to think about the country now. Whatever wrong has happened, it will come out later but I don’t think it is right to stoke a controversy before a tour,” concluded former India skipper.
Kohli claimed on Wednesday, prior to the team’s trip to South Africa from Mumbai, that Ganguly had made no request to him on retaining T20I captainship, which contrasted sharply with the BCCI President’s comments and indicated an underlying tension between Kohli and the administrators.
India’s Test skipper Kohli will lead the side in the three-match series, while Rohit will rejoin the Indian squad for the ODI series, which begins on January 19, assuming he is deemed fit.
