Virat Kohli, who stepped down as India’s Test captain after the defeat against South Africa, has reportedly refused to have a farewell Test as captain. Kohli, who had relinquished his T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2021 and was sacked as ODI captain, gave up the leadership duties in the red-ball format as well.
Kohli announced his decision one day after India’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the Proteas. Prior to the announcement on social media, Kohli had revealed the news to his teammates and BCCI secretary, Jay Shah.
Following the decision, a senior BCCI official reportedly offered a farewell match as captain and a gala in Bengaluru. However, Virat Kohli denied playing any farewell game.
“One match makes no difference. That’s now how I am,” he stated as per a report in Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile, the 33-year-old Kohli took to social media to announce his decision. He wrote:
“7 years of hard work, toil and relentless perseverance everyday to take the team in the right direction”, the time had come for him to step aside. Every thing has to come to halt at some stage and for me as Test Captain of India, it’s now.”
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 15, 2022
He added:
There have been many ups and also some downs along the journey, but never has there been a lack of effort or lack of belief. I have always believed in giving my 120 percent in everything I do, and if I can’t do that, I know it’s not right thing to do. I have absolute clarity in my heart and I cannot be dishonest to my team.”
BCCI in no hurry to announce Virat Kohli’s successor
With India’s next Test assignment scheduled in March in Sri Lanka, the selectors and BCCI are taking their time to decide the successor. Although Rohit Sharma replaced Virat Kohli in white-ball formats, they are unlikely to do the same in the longest format of the game.
A couple of names have been going around with opener KL Rahul, who captained India in Johannesburg, topping the charts.
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