We couldn't have had two white-ball captains: Ganguly on Rohit replacing Kohli as ODI skipper
New Delhi(PTI): 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.
The BCCI on Wednesday named Rohit the captain of the ODI side going into the 2023 ODI World Cup and Ganguly, in an interaction with PTI, opened up on the issue, asserting that the incumbent was spoken to and duly accepted the decision.
"We had requested Virat not to step down as T20 captain but he didn't want to continue as captain. So, the selectors felt that they cannot have two white ball captains in two white-ball formats. That's too much of leadership," BCCI president and former India captain told PTI.
Kohli stepped down as T20 captain after India's disastrous World Cup campaign in October-November.
Ganguly said the selectors felt that multiple leaders in the white-ball format would lead to confusion and that's why the Chetan Sharma-led committee suggested that it's better to have one leader.
"I don't know (about confusion) but that's what they (selectors) felt. That's how this conclusion was arrived at -- that let Rohit captain in white ball and let Virat be the red-ball skipper," Ganguly added.
So how does he see Rohit performing as ODI skipper? Ganguly said that he wouldn't like to make any predictions but is confident of the new skipper's abilities.
"It's very difficult to predict. I wish him all the best and hope he does a good job," he said.
But was it taken into consideration that Kohli has been a good ODI skipper with over 70 per cent win record in 95 games that he was in charge.
"Yes, we did consider that but if you look at Rohit's record in whatever ODIs he has captained for India, it's very good. Bottom line, there can't be two white ball captains."
The sensitive question of not winning any ICC Trophy during Kohli's tenure at the helm was also asked but the Board president refused to divulge the details of the discussion.
"I can't explain more about what all was discussed and what selectors have said, but this is primary reason for having Rohit as white ball captain and Virat accepted it," he revealed.
On behalf of BCCI, it was the president himself and the chairman of selectors, who spoke to Kohli and intimated the BCCI's decision.
"Yes, I have spoken to Virat personally and chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma has also spoke to him on the issue," he signed off.
Rohit also replaced Ajinkya Rahane as Kohli's deputy in the Test format, something that was on expected lines due to Rahane's lack of form with the bat.
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Congress leader Harish Rawat files FIR against BJP over 'misinformation' campaign against him
Dehradun (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday filed a police complaint here against the alleged misinformation campaign being carried out against him by BJP on social media.
Rawat, who reached the Nehru Colony police station with his supporters, handed over a written complaint along with a pen drive and other evidence to the police.
Based on this, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and relevant sections of law.
After filing the FIR, Rawat alleged that the police took four hours to register his complaint. He added that if it takes so long for a former CM to file an FIR, one can easily imagine the plight of a common man.
"Finally, after four hours, the police registered the FIR with trembling hands. Their hands were trembling because we have accused the BJP president and his associates, with factual evidence, of misusing AI to tarnish our and our party's image and trying to disrupt social harmony by targeting a particular community," Rawat said.
He expressed hope that after the registration of the FIR, the police would bring the culprits to justice.
Rawat also said, "Just imagine, if the police take so much time to register an FIR of a former CM, what will be the condition of a common man in this state?"
Later, he also handed over a copy of the FIR to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun and the SSP of the Special Task Force. Rawat also said that he would meet the District Magistrate of Dehradun and the State Election Officer with his complaint on Wednesday.
Recently, an AI-generated reel was uploaded on the official social media page of the BJP, which portrayed Rawat as a supporter of appeasement.
In the reel, a Congress leader is heard saying, "I take refuge in Muslims, I take refuge in dargahs (shrines), I take refuge in love jihad." The subsequent images show the construction of a dargah and some people smiling and talking about turning Devbhoomi (the land of gods) into a land of dargahs.
At the end of the reel, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is seen walking with police forces and bulldozers.
Rawat also claimed that another AI-generated video was uploaded from a 'fake' BJP platform, depicting him as a 'traitorous Pakistani agent' engaged in espionage. However, the BJP has denied any connection to this video.
