India captain Virat Kohli will relinquish his role of a skipper from the shortest format after the T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE. Rumours of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) contemplating a change in captaincy were afloat of late. However, as per a report in the Times of India, Kohli's decision to relinquish T20I captaincy is completely his own and not the Indian board's. The 32-year-old, in his post on social media, himself also explained that he is taking the call in order to allow him some breathing space, having been overburdened with responsibilities." Understanding workload is a very important thing...I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket. I have given everything to the team during my time as T20 captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 team as a batsman moving forward," the 32-year-old said in his post.As per the report, Kohli made the decision purely on the basis of his own workload. The India captain wants to focus on his batting more having not been in the best of form with the bat of late. There, however, was no pressure from the team management to take such a call.
Former chief selector MSK Prasad said he was surprised to know about Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as India’s T20I captain after the conclusion T20 World Cup in November. Speaking with Sportstar, Prasad reckoned that excessive workload that comes with leading Team India across all formats and the stress of living in bio-bubble could have been the reason behind Kohli’s massive decision.“Virat is someone who has scored 70 centuries (43 in ODIs and 27 in Tests) in a decade has achieved something unbelievable and has set high standards. Probably, the bubble life had an impact on his individual performance, and that would have perhaps made him take such a decision before the T20 World Cup. Maybe, he wanted to unburden himself by letting go of one format,” he added. The former selector further stated that the decision of stepping down will de-stress Kohli and help him lead the Indian side in the upcoming T20 World Cup without much pressure.“‘Under Virat’s captaincy, it has only been a high for Indian cricket in T20s. We have achieved success in New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, Australia, and this T20 World Cup will be the first mega T20I event under his captaincy.
