Virat Kohli Wants To Make Himself Unsackable As Captain, Asserts Sanjay Manjrekar

Virat Kohli’s sudden decision to step down from the Test captaincy role has shocked his fans and the entire cricket world.

On Saturday, Kohli announced on his official Twitter handle to step down as India’s Test captain just a day after his side lost the Test series 1-2 against South Africa.

Virat Kohli relinquishes captaincy duty from all formats

Kohli stepped down from the T20I captaincy role after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup in November last year. Just ahead of the South Africa tour, he was replaced with Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain as the selectors didn’t want two white-ball captains for India.

“Every thing has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test captain of India, it’s now. There have been many ups and also some downs along the journey but there has never been lack of effort or lack of belief,” Kohli issued a statement on his official Twitter handle.

Virat Kohli wants to make himself unsackable as captain: Sanjay Manjrekar

Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Kohli quits from the captaincy roles to avoid being sacked from the Indian board. The former Indian player pointed out how the Indian player has left his different leadership roles one after another.

“It’s come one after the other in a very short span of time – giving up the white-ball captaincy and IPL captaincy as well. This also was unexpected, but it is interesting that all these three resignations of important positions have come so quickly one after the other,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.

“I think, in some way, he wants to make himself unsackable as captain. When he gets that vibe that his captaincy is under threat, he tends to quit,” he added.

Kohli succeeded MS Dhoni in Test captaincy after the latter retired from the red-ball format at the end of 2014. Kohli stood as India’s captain in 68 Test matches and won 40 of them, the best record for any Indian skipper.

Under the leadership of Kohli, India won their first-ever Test series in Australia when they defeated them 2-1 in the 2018/19 Border Gavaskar series.

Also Read: Rohit Sharma Shocked By Virat Kohli’s Decision To Step Down As Test Captain, Congratulates Him On Social Media