Keep the differences aside, concentrate on the game — that’s Kapil Dev’s advice to the BCCI and Virat Kohli, who seem to be at loggerheads at the moment. The World Cup-winning captain feels that Kohli’s statements that exposed his differences with the Board were ill-timed as India must now focus on their upcoming series in South Africa.

“It is not good to point fingers on anybody at this point in time. The South Africa tour is coming and please pay attention to the tour,” Kapil told ABP News when asked about Kohli’s remarks.

“I would say the Board president is the Board president, but yes the Indian cricket team captain is also a big thing. But talking badly about each other in public, I don’t think it is a good thing, whether it is Sourav or Kohli.”

At a media conference on Wednesday, Kohli contradicted Sourav’s earlier comments regarding the former’s decision to quit T20I captaincy. While Sourav had claimed that he had “personally requested” Kohli not to give up T20I captaincy, Kohli said that there was no such communication from the Board when he had let them know of his decision.

The matter stirred up a massive debate on who was speaking the truth. Kapil urged Kohli to take control of the situation and think about the team.

“Aap situation ko control kijiye, behtar ye hai ki aap desh ke baare mein sochiye (Please control the situation and it’s better to think about the country now),” said the 62-year-old, who played 134 Tests between 1978 and 1994 and took 434 wickets along with making 5248 runs.

“Jo galat hai woh kal pata chal hi jayega, but I don’t think it is right to stoke a controversy before a tour,” he observed.

Neither the BCCI nor president Sourav has reacted to Kohli’s comments. The Indian Test team, led by Kohli, departed for South Africa on Thursday for a three-match series beginning in Centurion on December 26. India will also play three ODIs after the Test series.