Kohli surprised everyone by leaving the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore after IPL 2021.
New Delhi, Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes that Virat Kohli made a ‘wise decision’ to step down from captaincy across all formats of the game to better himself in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). The way to present has become easier. Shastri, who knew and understood Kohli’s leadership skills closely during his tenure as the Indian coach, however feels that the 33-year-old batsman could have remained the captain in Test cricket.
Shastri said, “To be honest, I think it (relinquishing the captaincy) can be indirectly beneficial. The pressure of captaincy has been taken off his shoulders. What is expected of the captain will no longer be there. Now he can express himself well, can play freely and I think he would like to do that too.”
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He told ESPNcricinfo, “I think he made a wise decision to step down as captain. I would have liked if he had remained the captain of India’s Test team but it is a personal choice.
Kohli surprised everyone by leaving the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore after IPL 2021. He then stepped down as the Test team captain after India’s 1-2 loss in the South Africa tour, while he had earlier resigned from the T20I captaincy after the World Cup last year. After this, the Cricket Board of India (BCCI) removed him from the captaincy of the ODI team.
Shastri said, “I think the most important thing is not to worry about his performance, because he has done enough work to prove himself in world cricket.” The former all-rounder said that captaining the Indian cricket team has its challenges.
“Captaining a team in all three formats of the game is not an easy task, especially the captaincy of India where a lot of expectations are placed on you,” he said. Shastri said, “The captain of any other team has to bear less pressure than the captain of the Indian team, because here the expectations of more than a billion people are attached to you. The expectations are too high.” (agency)