Don’t think there has been a greater cricketer than Kohli in India, asserts Ramachandra Guha

Back in 2017, when Ramachandra Guha resigned from the role as a member of the Committee of Administrators, blaming the superstar culture syndrome in Indian cricket apart from COA head Vinod Rai’s imposing decision making. The letter he wrote to the BCCI was a damning indictment of everything that the board resisted and Kohli’s excessive power was one of it. However, Guha hasn’t taken anything away from the cult of Virat Kohli stating that the Delhite is the greatest Indian cricketing phenomenon, even more than a certain little fella from Mumbai who dominated the cricketing circuit for 24 years.

“The Indian Test team of today has one great batsman, Virat Kohli, and one great blocker, Cheteshwar Pujara. We also have perhaps the best pace bowling attack in Indian history and marshaling this era is Kohli. He is a force of nature. In terms of just the greatness of his batsmanship and his force of personality, I don’t think there has been a greater cricketer than Kohli in India. Tendulkar was a great batsman but he didn’t have that force of personality,” Guha told Scroll.

The Lodha committee reforms started with dismantling Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke from the office with the CoA taking as many as three years to have the next BCCI board in place. It was a long time yet the administrative and executive style management that the Supreme Court envisioned became a piece of paper. Guha stated that looking back in hindsight, the CoA and Lodha Committee's inclusion and their vision have no place now.

“It is certainly not what the Lodha Committee has in mind. It is certainly not what the CoA had in mind. We have gone back to the sons and daughters of the old guard. Clearly, the whole thing was a waste of time and there has been no meaningful change of any kind,” he added.