Why Did Virat Kohli Fail to See the Writing on the Wall?

 It is very evident that over the years, BCC I’s line of communication and its choice of expression has often been a euphemism when it comes to dealing with the difficult questions. Almost two decades back, Trevor Johns in Australia could easily tell a very powerful Steve Waugh (Test captain) that the selection committee had decided to go in a different direction by choosing Ricky Pointing the next ODI captain which left Waugh shocked (the confession is there in his book) but in Indian cricket even a very powerful President like Sour av Gangly finds it tough to call a spade a spade. In the end, once, an invincible cricket captain has been dispatched into the sunset by a board which rarely encourages the cult of one man.

 Three months after relinquishing the T20I captaincy, VI rat Kohl I has now been unceremoniously sacked from the ODI captaincy as well. Of course, this is not shocking, but what is baffling indeed is that why did Kohl I fail to see the writing on the wall which was in pretty bold and in caps letters?  Even if Kohl I desperately tried to salvage his reputation by ‘quitting’ on his own terms by announcing his decision just ahead of the high-profile T20 World cup in the UAE, he was clearly aware what was going on in the corridors of Indian cricket, is power center.  That he still had the audacity to express his desire to lead India in Tests and Odis, was even more shocking. In a forlorn manner, he tried to remain his own man to the bitter end, daring publicly to the BCC I, and to a lesser extent, the selectors that ODI captaincy was his legitimate right. “Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket,” he wrote on his social media platforms (Twitter and Instagram) on September 16.

 Expectedly, this posturing of self-anointment too didn’t go down well with the powers that be. Even the suggestion by Kohl i that who should be the future white ball captain (Rohit in T20) was seen as some sort of tactical move by the Test captain to convince the world that he was still deciding his fate. Far from the truth was the harsh realities of Indian cricket, is no matter how VI rat Kohl I’s stature may have been. Maybe throwing an open challenge to the powerful BCC I officials that if they wanted to replace him, they should try to sack him was a fatal error.

 Like time and tide, BCC I too wait for no one it seems, especially for someone who seems to be losing his pre-eminence as a batter. This had happened to Tendulkar and Sourav Gangly in the past. The likes of Rahul Dr avid, Anil  and MS  decided to leave when they realized that if they didn’t do it themselves, ignominy of sacking wasn’t far away.