New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai while discussing the invitation for application of coaching staff for the Indian team had announced that skipper Virat Kohli would have no say in the appointment of the head coach.
Surprisingly, the India captain decided to make his choice official a couple of days later while addressing the media before leaving for the US to play the West Indies. And now, the CoA has decided to term this act of the captain as his “freedom of speech”. Speaking to IANS, a member of the CoA said that Kohli lives in a democratic country and cannot be stopped from making his views public. When asked if the skipper talking about his relationship with current coach (Ravi Shastri) could actually be seen as a hint for the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), the official said that shouldn’t be the case.
“This is his opinion and he has expressed it and this is a democratic country so we cannot stop someone from saying something. Why should every word of every individual matter? He may be captain of the team, but there is the CAC and it is for them to take a call on this (appointing coach). “There are millions of people living in this country and you cannot stop people from making their opinions known. It will be needed to be seen how the CAC interprets the statement from Kohli.
Everyone has a way of doing things,” the member said. Interestingly, when it comes to the other members in the Indian team, they aren’t allowed to speak to the media without taking prior permission. The same also applies for the employees of the BCCI who need to take permission before answering queries posted to them.This once again brings to the fore the question whether different rules apply to different people. Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had recently spoken about how the national selectors needed to put their foot down more often.
“That they selected the team for West Indies without first having a meeting to select the captain brings up the question of whether Kohli is the captain of the team at his or the selection committee’s pleasure. Speaking of lame ducks, the Indian selection committee appears to be one.”
Before that, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly had also questioned certain selection decisions and asked the selectors to not try and please individuals. (IANS)
