Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has unfollowed Delhi Capitals mentor Sourav Ganguly on Instagram, according to Cricket Country. The move comes after Virat refused to shake hands with Ganguly following Delhi Capitals’ 23-run defeat to RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 15. In a video that has surfaced on social media, Ganguly is seen jumping the queue to ignore Kohli and shake hands with the player behind him.
As per https://t.co/JlMcJsNE2F, Kohli used to follow 276 accounts on Instagram, including Sourav Ganguly. pic.twitter.com/debeOz9OfO
— Akash Kharade (@cricaakash) April 16, 2023
Sources suggest that Kohli and Ganguly had a strained relationship during their respective stints as Team India captain and BCCI president. Interestingly, Kohli recently stepped down as T20I captain and was replaced by Rohit Sharma in ODIs during Ganguly’s tenure as BCCI president.
On the cricketing front, Kohli has been in top form with the bat in the ongoing IPL 2023 season. He has scored 214 runs in four games at a strike rate of 147.58, with three half-centuries against Mumbai Indians, Lucknow Super Giants, and Delhi Capitals. Kohli’s next match will be against the Chennai Super Kings on April 17.
Earlier in December 2021 Ganguly had told ANI: “It’s a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper, but, obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats.”
However, later after a week, Kohli made the startling admission that he and the selection committee had never spoken. In 2021, he said these words at a news conference during India’s trip of South Africa: “There was no prior communication with me at all since I announced the T20 captaincy decision until the 8th of December. I was told that the selectors had decided that I won’t be ODI captain to which I replied, ‘Okay, fine’. There was no prior communication. That is what happened.”
It remains to be seen if there is any truth to the reports of a rift between Kohli and Ganguly. However, what is clear is that Kohli is focused on leading RCB to their first IPL title, and he will be looking to continue his rich vein of form in the upcoming matches.
