'He Wanted To Teach Ganguly A Lesson': Chetan Sharma On 'Ego Clash' Between Virat Kohli And Former BCCI President

The chief selector said that Virat Kohli had started considering himself bigger than the Board.

All-India Selection Committee Chairman Chetan Sharma, who finds himself in the middle of a TV String controversy, was recorded sharing his views on what transpired between Virat Kohli and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly in late 2021.

In the sting operation, Sharma spoke what happened behind the scenes after Virat Kohli was removed as the captain of the ODI format post his decision to step down as the leader in T20Is. In a part of the video, the 57-year-old can be heard saying how Kohli had started thinking of himself as bigger than the board and wanted to take to teach Ganguly a lesson as he felt that it was him who had played a part in removing him as the captain.

"When the player becomes popular, he thinks that nobody can touch him. He feels that cricket in India would stop without him. But has that ever happened? Some of our biggest cricket stars came and went, but cricket remained the same. So, he (Kohli) tried to hit back at the (former) president at that time. It was a damaging controversy. It was a classic case of a player going against the BCCI," the selector was head saying in the sting operation by Zee News.

"The president represents the BCCI, isn't it? As to whose fault it was, that will be judged in time, but it was an attack on the BCCI. All our players are discouraged from doing this because the loss will be theirs as everyone will go against them, even if the president is at fault. There has to be some respect for the chair," he added.

The chief selector said that Virat shouldn't have used the press conference to talk about team selections.

"Virat was going to South Africa as captain (of the Test side). Press conferences should be about team matters and not selections. There was no need to bring up this topic (Virat being removed from the ODI captaincy) during the press conference. But he did so intentionally. He felt that he had lost his ODI captaincy because of Ganguly. Ganguly had told reporters that he had asked him not to step down (as ODI captain), but Virat claimed before the media that the president never said this to him. This created a major controversy," Sharma said.

"Ganguly had told him once during a video conference to think it (stepping down as ODI skipper) over. But Virat did not pay any heed. There were nine people at the conference, including all the selectors. I am not sure if Virat heard Ganguly correctly. Ganguly later claimed that Virat lied to the media about him. As to why he did so, nobody knows. It is his personal matter. It sparked off a controversy, and matters escalated to the extent that it became an issue of a player against the Board," he added.

"Rohit Sharma had volunteered (to take over the ODI captaincy). It was an ego clash. Virat felt he was removed from the captaincy by Ganguly and wanted to teach him a lesson. So, he made the statements to the media to defame him. But it backfired on him," he further said.