Kohli, BCCI brass ‘informally’ chat over roadmap for T20 World Cup

Both skipper Virat Kohli and the BCCI mandarins discussed the roadmap for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

It is learnt that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah and vice-president Rajiv Shukla had an informal meeting with the captain during the second Test match at Lord’s and various aspects related to the T20 World Cup came up for discussion.

“Yes, BCCI top bosses did meet Kohli but let’s say that it will not be fair to divulge the finer details of the discussion. But with very little time left for the T20 World Cup and India not having any games prior to the (IPL), discussion was more about the roadmap going into the event,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

With India playing the Test series till September 14 and then the players being busy with their respective IPL franchises, time is of the essence.

Under Mr. Kohli, India have lost in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final and this year’s WTC final. Not being able to clear ICC semi-final or final hurdle has been a cause of concern.

During the past few ICC white ball tournaments, combination has been an issue for the Indian team, especially during the 50 over World Cup in England where they didn’t have a settled middle order with as many as three specialist wicketkeepers (MS Dhoni, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik) playing the semi-finals against New Zealand.

With the team selection slated for some time next month, there are multiple issues that needs to be sorted out including bowling workloads, all-rounder’s position, wrist spinners and the like for like replacements.

There are a few questions that the chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma, skipper Kohli, coaches Ravi Shastri and Bharat Arun, along with BCCI top brass need to be on the same page to prepare a team that can challenge England and West Indies in the shortest format.