Former India captain Kapil Dev knows a thing or two about the pressures of being the India skipper. Kapil along with MS Dhoni remain the only two captains to have won the World Cup for India although Virat Kohli holds the record for being the most successful Test captain with 40 wins under his belt.
Kapil, who was former India coach as well, believes that Kohli giving up captaincy might benefit his batting and help him to ‘play more freely’.
“I welcome Virat’s decision to quit the Test captaincy. He was going through a rough time ever since he gave up the T20 captaincy. He has looked tense in recent times, appeared to be under a lot of pressure. So giving up the captaincy was an option in order to play freely. He opted for that,” Kapil told Mid-Day.
Kapil also suspected that Kohli may not be enjoying captaincy in the recent times. “He is a mature man. I am sure he must have thought hard before taking this important decision. Maybe, he wasn’t enjoying the captaincy. We have to support him and wish him luck,” Kapil felt.
Virat, you can go with your head held high. Few have achieved what you have as captain. Definitely India's most aggressive and successful. Sad day for me personally as this is the team we built together - @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/lQC3LvekOf
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) January 15, 2022
Kapil also went on to cite his own example when Sunil Gavaskar played under the former. “Even Sunil Gavaskar played under me. I played under K Srikkanth and Azharuddin. I had no ego. Virat will have to give up his ego and play under a young cricketer. This will help him and Indian cricket. Virat should guide the new captain, new players. We cannot lose Virat, the batsman…no way,” Kapil added.
Kohli got the vibe that his captaincy is under threat: Sanjay Manjrekar
Dormer India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has outlined the reason behind Kohli relinquishing India Test captaincy, saying the prolific batter might not have felt safe about his captaincy after the series loss against South Africa.
A day after India lost the series 1-2 to South Africa with a seven-wicket defeat in the third and final Test at Cape Town, Kohli stepped down as captain of the Test team.
“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 was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
Manjrekar felt that Kohli didn’t want anyone to sack him as the captain. “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.
(with agency inputs)
