India’s Test team captain Virat Kohli has said on Wednesday that he is available for selection for the ODI series against South Africa.
While addressing a press conference, Virat Kohli said, “I am available. Do not ask me these questions. I am always available. Few things came out in the past as well which were also not true.”
However, while touching on the topic of his removal as ODI skipper he said there were no prior communication, “I was contacted one-and-a-half hour before the Test team selection. There was no prior communication. The chief selector discussed the Test team. And in the end, I was told that I won’t be the captain and I said fine. There was no prior communication.”
Kohli also bluntly dismissed Sourav Ganguly’s claim that the BCCI president tried to convince him to not give up T20 Captaincy.
Earlier Ganguly said: “…Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats.”
“Nothing this sort of happened. When I conveyed my decision to stepping down from the T20 Captaincy, everyone at BCCI welcomed it” Kohli punctured Ganguly’s claim.
“I gave the reasons why I wanted to quit T20 captaincy and my view point was received very nicely. There was no offence, no hesitation and not for once was I told that ‘you should not leave T20 captaincy’,” Kohli said, in complete contradiction to what Ganguly had stated a few days earlier during the press conference.
He also said that he always wanted to continue captaining the side in ODI cricket, however BCCI and selectors thought otherwise.
“That’s fine. If they thinks this way, I have no issues” he said.
Addressing that, Kohli said, “Nothing can derail me from playing for India. Lot of things happening outside are not ideal. There’s so much you can do as an individuals. You have to keep things in right perspective. I am mentally prepared and excited to do well in South Africa.”
The 33-year-old batter further went on to add he had done the best to his abilities while leading the team and will continue to ‘push the team in the right direction’, now as a pure batter.
“I have done the best I could. My motivation level to perform for the team will not dip. As captain, I have been honest to the responsibility, absolutely honest to the job. Batting, of course, when you have done this for a long time at the international level, you know how to perform.”
