1983 World Cup Winner Slams Selectors For Sacking Virat Kohli As India's ODI Skipper

1983 World Cup winning team player Madan Lal has criticized the selectors for removing Virat from the ODI captaincy, especially when the team was doing so well under his leadership.

New Delhi: Fans and cricket pundits are still debating about the BCCI's decision to remove Virat Kohli as team India's ODI captain. BCCI on Wednesday announced the name of hard-hitting opener Rohit Sharma as team India's new ODI captain while announcing the Test squad for India's tour of South Africa.

Virat Kohli had relinquished India's T20 captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2021 and expressed his desire to continue as the captain of India's ODI and Test teams.

It was believed that he could remain the ODI captain of the team till the World Cup 2023 but the BCCI and selectors had some other plans as they did not allow this to happen.

Reacting to the controversy, 1983 World Cup winning team player Madan Lal has criticized the selectors for removing Virat from the ODI captaincy, especially when the team was doing so well under his leadership.

Former India all-rounder and head coach Madan Lal believes that if Kohli had a good record as captain in ODIs, then he should not have been removed from the captaincy.

Madan Lal exclusively told Mid-Day,"I don't know what the selectors have thought about this, but if he [Kohli] is producing the right results then why [change him]? I can understand T20s [he stepped down as captain] because there is so much of cricket and he can concentrate on two other formats. But if you are successful and you are removed, it will of course pinch him."

"I was thinking Kohli would have stayed [as captain] till the 2023 World Cup. It is very difficult to build a team, but easier to destroy," he added.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said that once Virat Kohli refused to continue as India's T20 captain, the selectors made up their mind to hand the ODI reins to Rohit Sharma as the national team couldn't afford "too much leadership" with two separate captains in the limited-overs format.