Internal conversation about captaincy is not for media, says Rahul Dravid

India's Test captain Virat Kohli during a press conference. (AFP file)

Kohli was replaced by Rohit Sharma as India one-day captain

By PTI

Published: Sat 25 Dec 2021, 6:32 PM

India head coach Rahul Dravid on Saturday refused to divulge details of any internal conversation he might have had with the selectors on Virat Kohli’s white-ball captaincy, saying it is not for public consumption.

It has been a convention that Indian captain addresses the media ahead of the opening Test match of a series but it was Dravid, who took the questions ahead of the ‘Boxing Day’ Test against South Africa.

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Kohli had decided to give up the leadership role in Twenty20 format and later he was replaced by Rohit Sharma in the one-day format too.

“To be honest that’s the role of the selectors and I am not going to get into conversations that I might or might not have had,” Dravid said when asked if he had given his opinion on change of white ball captaincy.

“It’s not the place and the time to be doing that and discussing that. And what internal conversations I have had is certainly not going to come out in the media and I am not going to start telling people what conversations I have had,” Dravid said in a polite-yet-firm manner.

When Kohli spoke to the media on December 15 about change in captaincy, it snowballed into a huge storm as he had openly contradicted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s claim that he was asked to continue as T20 captain as there can’t be two white-ball captains.

Kohli had said that no one in BCCI told him not to quit T20 captaincy and it created an ugly controversy.

Dravid, himself a former India captain, however praised Kohli for his passion for Test cricket and hoped that he would do well in this series.

“Virat has played a huge role in that obviously as a player and a leader. He has been fantastic. He is one of those players who loves Test cricket and really wants to compete,” Dravid said.

“Hopefully, he has great series that benefits the team as well.”