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Cricket PlayersGanguly told Shastri 'boss, it's time to go': Former Pakistan captain blames BCCI chief for launching 'personal attacks'
Even as Team India tries to move on from the entire BCCI-Virat Kohli fiasco, speculations continue to flock Indian cricket. With Kohli now no longer serving as captain in any of the three formats, opinions from across the border continue to add fuel to the fire.
Even as Team India tries to move on from the entire BCCI-Virat Kohli fiasco, speculations continue to flock Indian cricket. With Kohli now no longer serving as captain in any of the three formats, opinions from across the border continue to add fuel to the fire. In a recent video, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has weighed in on the BCCI vs Kohli saga, saying its seeds were sown back in 2017, when the legendary Anil Kumble was asked to step down as the Team India's head coach and his place was taken up by Ravi Shastri.
"All this began happening when Anil Kumble was wrongly removed as coach. Ravi Shastri had taken no coaching courses and yet he directly took entry as the coach. This was a strong group – Kumble had over 600 wickets and Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were his teammates. This trio is very strong," Latif said in a YouTube video.
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Shastri's first tenure as coach ended after the 2019 World Cup, after which it was extended by another couple of years with his contract running till the 2021 T20 World Cup. Shastri was always supposed to make way for his successor once the World Cup was over, but Latif reckons it was Ganguly who forced him on his way out, shutting any chances of Shastri continuing on even if he wanted to.
"By all means, Ganguly told Shastri 'boss, it's time to go' even if Shastri had considered continuing as coach. This whole thing that has been building up since before the T20 World Cup, these are personal attacks and it has impacted Indian cricket. What happened with Pakistan in the early 1990s is happening today with Indian cricket," added the former Pakistan wicketkeeper batter.
Lastly, Latif believes the entire off-field controversy played a huge part in India's poor show in South Africa, which saw them lose the Test series 1-2 and later get whitewashed 0-3 in the ODIs. Latif adds there is rift in the team, providing an example behind his thought process.
"Such off-field tensions hamper the performances of the team and that is exactly what has happened. Who was sitting with Kohli? Siraj, on the left. On his right, there were players who nobody knew. That picture stated it all. KL Rahul cannot handle the team, and it remains to be seen how Rohit Sharma maintains his fitness if he is to be the man to usher Indian cricket into the future," he mentioned.
