'Ganguly shouldn't have spoken on Kohli's captaincy'

‘Any issue about selection or captaincy, it's the chairman of selection committee, Chetan Sharma, who should speak,’ says former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar.

Former India captain and chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar feels Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly was wrong in airing his views on behalf of the national selectors over the Virat Kohli captaincy saga.

Ahead of the team’s departure for South Africa, Kohli, in a media conference, said no one from the BCCI told him not to quit T20 captaincy, contrary to Ganguly's claim that he had spoken to the skipper on the issue.

The 'Colonel', on his part, opined that Ganguly had no business to speak on the matter.

"The thing is that Ganguly had no business to speak on behalf of the selection committee. He is the BCCI president. Any issue about selection or captaincy, it's the chairman of selection committee, Chetan Sharma, who should speak," Vengsarkar, a veteran of 116 Tests said on Wednesday.

Ganguly, himself a former India captain, had said Kohli's decision to not reconsider giving up T20 captaincy prompted the selectors to go for Rohit as the sole white-ball skipper, as two different captains in the two formats would have led to "too much leadership”.

"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," the BCCI president had said.

Vengsarkar believes that the prerogative of selecting or dropping any player rests solely with the selection committee.

"A captain is selected or removed by the selection committee and that is not Ganguly's jurisdiction at all," quipped the legendary former Mumbai right-hand batter.