"People forgot I made Rohit Sharma captain.." Sourav Ganguly's bold statement after India win ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Sourav Ganguly was the BCCI President when Rohit Sharma took over India captaincy from Virat Kohli.

Sourav Ganguly made a startling statement regarding ICC T20 World Cup 2024-winning India captain Rohit Sharma. Sharma captained India to the title win after defeating South Africa in the final on June 29 in Barbados, as India became champions undefeated.

Notably, Rohit Sharma had taken over captaincy from Virat Kohli in all formats in 2022. Virat Kohli had stepped down as T20I captain after T20 World Cup 2021 debacle, when India failed to qualify for the knockouts.

Kohli was then stripped off his captaincy in ODIs and he then relinquished test captaincy as well after India lost to South Africa in Rainbow Nation 1-2 in the test series.

This all happened during Sourav Ganguly’s tenure as BCCI president. During that time, Ganguly had stated: “I told them [the selectors] I will continue as ODI captain and Test captain. I told them at that point clearly that if the office bearers or the selectors don’t want me to handle either of the responsibilities, I am fine with it … I said this clearly when I approached the BCCI to discuss my T20I captaincy.”

“Yes, we did consider that [retaining Kohli] but if you look at Rohit’s record in whatever ODIs he has captained for India, it’s very good. Bottomline: there can’t be two white-ball captains. … This is the primary reason for having Rohit as white-ball captain,” Ganguly had told PTI after Rohit Sharma was appointed captain.

When I named Rohit Sharma as captain…: Sourav Ganguly hits back at Virat Kohli fans

A few weeks later, Kohli stepped down as test captain as well. Sourav Ganguly was heavily criticized at the time, with many blaming him responsible for Kohli losing the captaincy. Rohit had replaced Kohli as captain in all forms at the time.

With Rohit Sharma doing admirably as captain in all formats, Sourav Ganguly has taken advantage of the opportunity to respond to critics who chastised him for the captaincy move three years ago.

The former India captain added that, while the Indian cricketing fraternity is busy celebrating Rohit’s T20 World Cup 2024 victory, no one recalls that he was the one who appointed Rohit as captain in the first place.

“They all criticized me when I appointed Rohit as captain. Now, when India has won a trophy [the 2024 T20 World Cup] under him, no one is criticizing me anymore. They have also forgotten that I had made him captain,” Ganguly said to Bengali daily AajKaal.

Rohit has had a brilliant captaincy tenure, taking India to the final of the World Test Championship and ICC World Cup in 2023. He had kept India undefeated at home in the test series, while also winning the T20 World Cup 2024.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket for IPL 2024 Live Score & IPL Points Table,  on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.