'Virat Kohli should have spoken to us, not media,' BCCI official defends Indian team's busy schedule

After Virat Kohli recently questioned BCCI's travel scheduling, an official defending the Indian cricket board insisted that instead of speaking to the media, Team India's skipper should have communicated directly with the board.

The Indian players have had a very hectic playing schedule for a while now. Just after their final One-Day International (ODI) against Australia ended, Kohli and Co flew off to New Zealand the very next day.

India and New Zealand are scheduled to play a full-fledged series, including five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), three ODIs and two Tests.

Ahead of the T20I opener, a BCCI functionary said that while Kohli has the right to express his views, the BCCI does try to make the best possible travel plans keeping the interest of the players in mind.

"He has every right to raise a point, but to be fair, all travel plans are made keeping in mind the interest of the players. If you see, we tried to space it out as much as we could post the World Cup when we played at home and the boys were also given a break during Diwali.

It honestly made more sense to be flying to Auckland from Bengaluru than the team regrouping after a break," he told in an interview to IANS.

When a BCCI official was contacted, he reportedly said that the planning was done during the tenure of the Committee of Administrators and if Kohli or anyone in the team had a problem, they should have contacted the secretary rather than speaking in the media.

"The schedule was tight, but I don't see what the problem is when it is a schedule made under the Committee of Administrators and supervised by the CEO. Should this issue not have been raised with them considering the fact that they seemed to be on each other's speed dial?

Even if he would have raised the issue with the BCCI Secretary, it could have been addressed. While Kohli is free to express himself the way he wishes to, there's a system that needs to be followed for resolution of issues and the core of the system is communication," the official added.

On the eve of the first T20I between India and New Zealand, Kohli addressed media at Auckland's Eden Park where he addressed the scheduling issue.

"It's getting closer and closer to landing at the stadium straight. That's how compressed the gap has become. This kind of travelling to a place that is seven and a half hours ahead of IST is difficult to adjust immediately.

Hopefully, this will be taken into consideration in the future. But this is the year of the World Cup and every T20 is important. So we can't lose our focus," Kohli said on Thursday.