On Thursday, Team India skipper announced that he will be stepping down as the captain from T20Is after the conclusion of the ICC T20 World Cup.
A few days back, The Times of India had carried out a report which stated the possibility of this move. The sources quoted in the report were anonymous, and the report was criticized heavily on social media. Few top BCCI sources had dismissed that report as completely baseless.
However, as things have turned out now, Virat Kohli has made his intentions pretty clear.
The 32-year-old cited his ‘immense workload’ as the main reason behind his decision to step down from captaincy in T20Is. He was appointed the captain in Tests after MS Dhoni stepped down after the end of the Australia tour in 2014.
Kohli was named the captain in all formats after Dhoni stepped down once again from white-ball captaincy in 2017. So, Kohli has been leading the side for over seven years now.
Even though India haven’t won any title in Kohli’s tenure yet, their performances have been considered majorly good. India ended up as the runners-up in the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semifinalists in the 2019 World Cup.
Kohli has played a total of 90 matches in the format so far and has led the side in 45 of those, out of which he has won 27.
“I have given everything to the team in my time as T20 captain, and will continue to do so for the T20 team as a batsman moving forward.”
“Virat has been a true asset for Indian Cricket and has led with aplomb. He is one of the most successful captains in all the formats. The decision has been made keeping in mind the future roadmap.
We thank Virat for his tremendous performance as the T20I Captain. We wish him all the best for the upcoming World Cup and beyond and hope that he continues to score plenty of runs for India,”
said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
The BCCI are yet to announce the successor to Kohli but it is more than certain that it is going to be Rohit Sharma.
He is already Kohli’s deputy in white-ball cricket and is also the most successful captain in the Indian Premier League history. Rohit has led Mumbai Indians to five Premier League titles , and they were the champions last year as well.
Moreover, Kohli and Rohit have played together for the Indian team for more than a decade now, had numerous memorable partnerships in all formats and share good camaraderie as well.
Rohit is also 34 years old already, but there is no better person to take over the reigns from Kohli until they find the right candidate to lead the next generation of youngsters.
