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Updated January 16th, 2022 at 18:17 IST

Virat Kohli steps down as Test captain; Was ex-skipper miffed about ODI captaincy removal?

Virat Kohli's exit from the cricket's longest format comes after he voluntarily stepped down as T20I skipper and his unceremonious removal as ODI captain.

Reported by: Kamal Joshi
Virat Kohli
Image: @BCCI/Twitter | Image:self
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Virat Kohli quit as Team India's Test captain on Saturday. His exit from cricket's longest format comes after he voluntarily stepped down as T20I skipper and his unceremonious removal as ODI captain last year as the selectors wanted one captain for the white-ball format. Amid this, fans are speculating that Kohli's recent decision could be due to the split captaincy.

Virat's decision to discontinue as Test captain comes in the backdrop of India's Test series defeat in South Africa. With this announcement, Kohli will no longer lead India in any format. It should be noted that when he resigned as T20I skipper, Kolhi had said that he wanted to continue as ODI captain, a role which BCCI assigned to Rohit Sharma. This has led to speculations that Kohli was miffed about his removal from ODI captaincy.

Notably, in 2017, Dhoni decided to quit as ODI captain before the England series stating that he does not believe in having different captains for different formats. Interestingly it is worth noting that other Indian greats have also played under captains after quitting the leader's position.

Sachin Tendulkar has played under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid have played under MS Dhoni's captaincy. Interestingly, Dhoni has also played under Kohli's captaincy.

Why did Virat Kohli quit captaincy?

Reportedly, Kohli's recent rift with the BCCI could be one of the reasons for Kohli's sudden decision to resign as Test captain. He was sacked as ODI captain just a month after he resigned as T20I captain. When BCCI President Sauvrav Ganguly was asked about Kohli's sacking, he suggested that the right-handed batter was asked not to resign as T20I captain, to which he did not oblige, which forced the selectors to remove him as One Day International captain. 

However, Kohli countered Ganguly during a press briefing before leaving for South Africa. He said that no one had asked him to reconsider his decision to step down as a T20I skipper and that he was informed about the change in leadership in the ODI just one-and-a-half hours before his call with selectors to select a squad for the South Africa series.

Later, Team India's chief selector Chetan Sharma refuted Kohli's remarks and said that he personally called Kohli to request him to take back his decision but he refused.

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Published January 16th, 2022 at 18:16 IST

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