Watch Chetan Sharma Sting Operation Video: Why Virat Kohli left India Captaincy, cast aspersions on Bumrah, Ganguly: The Indian team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have once again come into the headlines after chief selector Chetan Sharma disclosed some classified details of the board and internal discussions during the sting operation conducted by a prominent TV channel. The chief selector of the Indian cricket team cast aspersions on big wigs of Indian cricket including Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Sourav Ganguly.
Chetan Sharma, as revealed in the sting operation, alleged that Indian players take injections to become 100 per cent match-fit even if they aren’t. He added that the players have their personal doctors whom they contact to inject the fluid into their bodies.
Although the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is aware of players taking injections, it can’t do anything as it’s impossible to detect those fluids even by anti-doping agencies, he said.
“They take injections and it is almost impossible to detect. They’ll need prescriptions for painkillers and they’ll get caught by anti-doping agencies. They take injections because they know what injections will not be caught by the agency,” said Chetan Sharma during the sting operation.
When asked about Jasprit Bumrah’s injury which is taking a long while to recover, Chetan Sharma said, “There was a time he wasn’t able to bend down.”
“Maybe 10-15% do that and they ask us to let them play but medical science does not let them. Players obviously want to play; they do not want to miss any matches. In the case of [Jasprit] Bumrah, he wasn’t even able to bend down so what could he do? There are only handful of such cases, however, some of them, they just take injections on their own and they say they are fine,” said the chief selector when asked whether Players hide their injuries with the board.
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No rift between Rohit and Virat: Chetan Sharma
The 57-year-old selector, who was recently re-appointed as the chairman of the national selection committee, said there was no rift between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. It was all made up by the outside people and media, he said. But, he mentioned that the two stalwarts have their egos.
“There is no dispute [between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli], this is just media speculation. When two big leaders sit face to face, there is always a slight ego clash.”
Chetan Sharma even went on to draw a comparison of Virat and Rohit to Bollywood’s Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra.
“There’s nothing, just two big personalities, like [Bollywood superstars] Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. Nothing ever happens. There are just two big egos. When there is no story, the media creates something.”
Rohit Sharma even backed Virat Kohli during the lean patch of the latter player and vice versa when Rohit had some issues, said the chief selector.
Virat wanted to teach Ganguly a lesson: Chetan Sharma
While spilling the beans of the infamous episode between Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly when the former was stripped of the limited-over captaincy, Chetan Sharma said there was a clash of egos between the two.
He said Virat considered himself “bigger than the game” and tried to take a shot at the then BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who he thought was responsible for removing him from the leadership position.
“When the player becomes popular, he considers himself to be bigger than the board and thinks that nobody can touch him. He feels that cricket in India would stop without him. So, he (Kohli) tried to hit back at the (former) president at that time. It was a damaging controversy. It was a classic case of a player going against the BCCI. The president represents the BCCI, isn’t it? As to whose fault it was, that will be judged in time, but it was an attack on the BCCI,” Chetan was heard saying during the sting operation.
Moreover, Chetan Sharma alleged Virat Kohli of lying during the pre-match media conference of India’s South Africa tour in 2021-22. Kohli deliberately brought up the captaincy issue in front of the reporters and even said there was no prior communication between him and the board before removing him from the ODI captaincy.
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