The Kohli vs Ganguly fight is a throwback to what happened between Dada and Greg Chappel

Former Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli has still not buried the hatchet with former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly. Their coldness towards each other was seen during an IPL match between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 15.

It started with Ganguly walking past Kohli, who was sitting with his pads on before going in to bat. While other DC players exchanged pleasantries with Kohli, Ganguly completely ignored him. Later in the match,  Kohli while walking to his fielding position near the boundary rope, was seen giving a 'death stare' to Ganguly, who was in the DC dugout as the mentor of the team. Even after the match, the two didn’t shake hands.

Later in the day, Kohli unfollowed Sourav Ganguly on Instagram. Ganguly too unfollowed Kohi.

What happened between the two

The big differences occurred between Ganguly and Kohli when the Delhi batsman was stripped off his ODI captaincy in December 2021 without any prior notice. Ganguly as BCCI President had maintained that Kohli was notified about the board’s decision.

Kohli went a step ahead organised a press conference saying that he wasn’t consulted over the decision and only was told about it 1.5 hours before the meeting. Kohli put the blame on Ganguly for his removal as the captain in the ODI format. Kohli, who was already going through a tough period, was really disappointed with this.

History repeats

Those who have followed Indian cricket since the early 2000s will know that what happened between Kohli and Ganguly is quite similar to what happned between Greg Chappel and Ganguly.What Ganguly went through in 2005 is quite similar to what Kohli was made to go through in 2021, which was removal as captain of the Indian cricket team.

Saurav Ganguly being shunted out with Greg Chappel as coach

In his autobiography “A Century is not Enough”, Ganguly recalls losing the captaincy of the Indian cricket team and being shunted out of the team as the most "turbulent period of his life". The decision to bring Greg Chappel as a head coach of Indian cricket team had backfired and Chappel was a big force behind removal of Ganguly as the captain of Indian cricket team.

He wrote: “This remains the most turbulent period of my life. Not only was my captaincy suddenly taken away, but I was dropped as a player. I feel angry even as I write this. What happened was unthinkable. Unacceptable. Unforgivable.”

Chappel, in one of his secret emails to the BCCI, had called Ganguly mentally unfit to lead the Indian cricket team. Not only did Chappell want Ganguly removed as captain, he wanted Ganguly out of the squad.

Once Ganguly was so frustrated with the scheme of things that he called up then BCCI Chairman Sharad Pawar asking him right away if he was required in the team. Pawar gently told him that it was his head coach who thought Ganguly would be a ‘disruptive influence’ in the Indian cricket team.

In his book he writes that the BCCI tossed him straight into the trash after he built a strong Indian team in 3 years. "Well, Rahul Dravid was made the new captain and a certain Sourav Ganguly who redeveloped the Indian team into a fighting outfit was shown the doors," he wrote.

Kohli getting the same treatment

Cut  to 2021, Kohli has just come out after losing in the T20 World Cup, and he himself wanted to give up the captaincy after the team’s poor show. 

But, he never spoke about quitting ODI captaincy because he had a good record in leading the Indian team in ODIs. He had won 68 out of 95 ODIs as captain and his win percentage was 68.42. In Tests, he had 40 wins in 68 Tests as the captain of the Indian cricket team.

And, despite his credible record, Kohli was removed as captain in what is considered a move engineered by Ganguly. 

Ganguly wrote that the Greg Chappell saga was the darkest period in his cricketing life, but Kohli’s darkest period in cricket was probably when he was removed as the captain by the BCCI headed by Ganguly.

Kohli’s form dipped, he struggled on the field, nearly went into depression and it took him nearly a year to regain the form. The only good thing which happened to him was that he wasn’t removed from the squad like Ganguly was.

And just like Ganguly, who did make a comeback, Kohli too got back to form against Pakistan at the ICC T20 World Cup in 2022. But Ganguly never mended his ways with Greg Chappell. And neither he wants to because the latter cost him his role as the captain of the Indian team.

In the similar way, Kohli doesn’t like Ganguly, beacuse he cost him the captaincy of the Indian Cricket team.

Also read: The Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly fight. Who said what?