BCCI leadership discusses response strategy following Virat Kohli's heated news conference.

According to India Today, the leadership committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is considering how to respond to Virat Kohli's startling comments about his India captaincy. Given the difficult scenario in Indian cricket, the board's senior brass is not in accord with Kohli's comments from Wednesday's press conference and is in a huddle to come up with a reaction strategy.

The BCCI is understandably distressed, but sources say the board is in a precarious position. On the one hand, if they come out and declare Kohli's assertions are false, it will project a negative image of the skipper in the eyes of the fans and other stakeholders in the sport. If they remain mute, though, it will appear like the board mistreated the captain.

Even while the debate rages, Virat Kohli and his Test squad boarded a chartered plane from Mumbai on Thursday morning for a trip to South Africa.

The BCCI's senior brass has been in a session since yesterday, devising a strategy to counter Kohli's assertions. The majority of the office bearers, on the other hand, have refuted the Test captain's remarks made before the team's departure for South Africa.

The BCCI may ask Chetan Sharma, the head of the selection committee, to address the situation or publish its own statement. It's also likely that Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, clears the air on the scandal, which has dominated the news since Wednesday.

IN FIERY PRESSER, WHAT DID VIRAT KOHLI SAY?

It all started when Virat Kohli, speaking to the media in Mumbai on Wednesday, accused the BCCI of failing to communicate with him prior to his removal as ODI captain on December 8. Kohli claimed that the chief sector, Sharma, contacted him barely 90 minutes before the selection committee meeting to pick India's Test team for the upcoming tour of South Africa to notify him that the selectors had opted not to keep him as ODI captain.

On December 8, the BCCI announced that Rohit Sharma would also take over as ODI captain. Kohli, for example, opted to step down as T20I captain after the T20 World Cup in October-November, and he announced his decision before the event began. Rohit Sharma took over as India's T20I captain and led the team to a 3-0 victory over New Zealand at home.

"I was notified one and a half hours before the Test series selection meeting on the 8th, with no prior communication to me," Kohli stated.

"Before we hung up, I was told that the five selectors had decided that I would not be the ODI captain," the 33-year-old claimed.

Meanwhile, Kohli refuted Ganguly's assertions that the board president had spoken to the skipper directly and encouraged him to reconsider his decision to retire from T20I captaincy in September.

"When it came to the T20I captaincy, I first sought the BCCI and explained my viewpoint, thought process, and arguments. And it was really well received at the time. There was no retaliation. There was no hesitation on my part. It was not a directive that I do not leave the T20I captaincy; rather, it was a progressive request. Taking the correct steps,"

In an interview with India Today, former India captain and renowned batter Sunil Gavaskar urged for improved communication between the board and the players, emphasising that Ganguly is the ideal person to question about the contradiction between his statement and the captain's assertions.

"I don't believe it (Kohli's remarks) genuinely brings the BCCI into the issue. I believe the individual should be questioned about how he came to believe he had delivered such a message to Kohli. That's all there is to it. Yes, he is the head of the BCCI, and he should be questioned about the disparity. He's the best person to ask about the disparity between what you seem to be saying and what the Indian skipper has said "Gavaskar remarked.