There was groupism on 2011-12 tour to Australia, says former selector Raja Venkat

Groupism and a low morale were the reasons why the selection committee wanted to replace Dhoni with the young and untested Kohli as Indian cricket captain back in 2012, a plan which was scuttled by Srinivasan

Kolkata: Groupism and a low morale were the reasons why the selection committee wanted to replace Dhoni with the young and untested Kohli as Indian cricket captain back in 2012, a plan which was scuttled by Srinivasan.


Raja Venkat 

Recalling the planned move, then selector Venkat told PTI that the idea to elevate Kohli was prompted by a string of poor results during the tour of Australia at that time.

"Two of my colleagues were there during the Test series and after 0-3 margin, they came back. What they saw was that the team's morale was down and players were confined in small groups and it didn't look good," Venkat told PTI.

"Since we had seen Virat lead a North Zone team brilliantly in a Deodhar Trophy competition a season before, we thought why not select him as captain for tri-series. Accordingly, we informed the then secretary (Sanjay Jagdale).

"But the BCCI president said that since the team had already been announced, there was no need to change the captain. As per BCCI constitution, the President was well within his rights to overrule the selectors' decision," said Venkat.

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