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Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt believes Virat Kohli is being made a target of a "dirty game" by the Indian media. Butt said with a successful Test series in England just behind Kohli and a crucial T20 World Cup looming in front of him, this is not the time to rake up the captaincy debate.
Salman Butt was responding to a recent news report carried by the Jagran network which said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was unhappy with some of Virat Kohli's decisions during the World Test Championship (WTC) final. It also claimed that he could be asked to make way for Rohit Sharma as captain if India fails to perform well in the UAE.
Salman Butt said in a video on his YouTube channel:
"Do you see the timing of this news? I don't have a problem with what the board thinks, it's about their own evaluation of who can take their cricket forward... but is this the time to discuss these things? Now there's talk of Virat Kohli's captaincy being on the danger line. He's recently played a series in England, led his team really well, he was being criticized for his team selections but he's constantly backing his team and in turn the team is responding to him and playing good cricket... the team is at the top in every format and the World Cup is right up front, so such news surfacing in the media is nothing but a dirty game."
On the question of comparing the white-ball trophies won by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Salman Butt said the latter is a very good captain but the former, too, has a decent win percentage across formats.
Salman Butt added:
"I have said this before, Rohit Sharma is a very good captain, very successful, but this is not the time to talk about these things... Trophies matter, I agree but see the percentage of the games he has won and how successful he has been around the world. I think this is not the time and the guy has done a lot of good to Indian cricket. This news resurfacing is nothing but bad intent which shouldn't happen."
The captaincy debate is a perennial one in Indian cricket. While Virat Kohli is arguably India's most successful captain in Test cricket, Rohit Sharma is the same in the IPL. The T20 World Cup is crucial in the sense that a win there can quell the noise forever, while a heavy loss could widen the cracks big time.
"IPL is a soft target" - Salman Butt responds to Michael Vaughan
Salman Butt also gave his retort to Michael Vaughan, who recently blamed the IPL for the cancelation of the fifth India-England Test in Manchester.
Salman Butt reasoned that in the modern world, where everything works around money, there should be no objections to IPL getting importance. He said the opulent league is being made a "soft target" which shouldn't happen.
He said:
"IPL has its own importance in world cricket. It's the biggest league. It's something players prepare for and cricket boards and release their players for. We saw how in the Pakistan-South Africa series, their top players, including the captain, went for the IPL midway after leaving the series... Players get a good financial benefit from this and the boards, too, when they get a series with India."
Salman Butt concluded:
In today's world everything works on finance, every decision is made considering its financial repercussions. So if it's happening everywhere, IPL is simply a soft target. It's his right to say anything about any league or about cricket but in my opinion, it's simply the biggest league, it matters to the players, to the boards with relations with the BCCI, and a lot of cricket's revenue is generated from there."
Most Indian players have reached the UAE from Manchester via charted flights. The IPL 2021 season will resume on September 19 in Dubai.
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