Nobody knows whether Virat Kohli was sacked from the ODI leadership role or not but the phenomenon of stripping off captaincy is not something new to Indian cricket. Several other high-profile skippers were asked to relinquish captaincy, and in some cases made to sit out of the XI, for a variety of reasons: poor form, internal politics etc. What is surprising is that some of the players to lose the numero uno position in the squad held a very good track record as the leader. As the fire on Kohli’s ODI captaincy continues to rage, it would be worthwhile to touch upon the cases of the erstwhile captains who lost their prominence in the side.
Kapil Dev
The only man who believed that India could lift the 83 World Cup and eventually masterminded his team’s triumph in the prestigious event was also removed as captain. The sacking took place in 1984, roughly a year after winning the coveted ICC trophy. The Haryana Hurricane not only lost his captaincy but also his place in the XI for playing an “irresponsible” shot in a Test match against England in 1984. Some conspiracy theorists even attribute this as Gavaskar’s revenge for forcing him to sit out almost the entire 83 World Cup. For the same, it is alleged that the Little Master colluded with the BCCI mandarins to drop Kapil from the squad. Let us hope the real truth is something else.
Sachin Tendulkar
Even the “God Of Cricket” had to endure the ignominy of being forced out as the captain. This happened in 1997 after some poor outings. As per Tendulkar, none of the BCCI officials had a word with him when he was handed the leadership role and even when he was relieved of the same. The disgraceful manner in which Tendulkar was treated is very well documented in his Autobiography “Playing it my way”. However, he took over as the captain of the Indian team yet again in 1999 from Mohammed Azharuddin.
Sourav Ganguly
The current BCCI boss also happened to be the skipper to revolutionize Indian cricket forever. But things started going downhill for him towards the end of 2004, both as a captain and a player. It could be pure bad luck that Ganguly’s inconsistency with the bat collided with the tenure of Greg Chappel as the Team India coach. There was no love lost between the two and the same was very much reflective in the BCCI’s affairs then as new allegations involving the duo flew thick and fast. As a result of the worsening ties between Ganguly and Chappel, the former was first stripped of the captaincy and then dropped from the playing XI later on. Unlike Sachin, Ganguly never got back the leadership role but clawed his way back into the side after a few months.
