Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly kept safe distance from each other at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Tuesday. Ever since Kohli called Ganguly's bluff on ODI captaincy change, the relationship between the two has been anything but warm. (More Cricket News)
On the eve of the first T20 between India vs West Indies on Wednesday in Kolkata, Kohli and Ganguly avoided each other. While BCCI president Ganguly exchanged pleasantries with some players and head coach Rahul Dravid, he arrived at a time when Kohli had left the pitch after batting one full hour at the nets in the evening.
Kohli had refuted Ganguly's comments that the BCCI had asked him to carry on as leader when Kohli decided to quit T20 captaincy. Quite unceremoniously, Kohli was subsequently removed as ODI captain. After the Test series against South Africa which India lost after winning the first Test at Centurion, Kohli stepped down as Test captain.
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On Tuesday, West Indies were the first team to hit the ground for practice in the afternoon before India followed in the evening from 5 PM.
Kohli, whose form is under the scanner after a series of under-par scores highlighted by poor shot selection, was the first to take the nets.
The likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer and Rishabh Pant also spent a considerable amount at the nets. However, captain Rohit Sharma, Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal skipped the optional training session.
Ganguly arrived at around 6 PM and headed straight towards the main pitch. He was seen talking to Pant for a brief period before engaging in a long chat with Dravid.
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NO FANS AT EDEN!
The iconic Eden Gardens, famous for its cricket-loving fans, will wear a deserted look on Wednesday. For the first time ever, the Indian cricket team will be playing in front of empty stands at the City of Joy.
Fans also chose to skip the training session as the stands were closed and only accredited media was allowed at the upper tiers of the Dr BC Roy Club House.
The last time Eden Gardens hosted an India match, fans saw the home team beating New Zealand by 73 runs in the final T20 match in November last year.
In all, Eden Gardens has hosted eight T20s out of which India have been involved in four. India will be playing West Indies in three T20 internationals in Kolkata on February 16, 18 and 20. Fans may be allowed in the third game, indicated Ganguly.
The last time India played West Indies here was in 2018 when the hosts won by the T20 match by five wickets. Kuldeep Yadav was the man of the match for his 3 for 13 in a low-scoring encounter.
