Kohli to quit T20 captaincy after World Cup

INDIA captain Virat Kohli is set to step down as captain of the Indian Twenty20 side after the World Cup starting in the United Arab Emirates and Oman next month, he said on Thursday (16).

Kohli will continue to lead the Test and one-day international sides.

"Considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian Team in Test and ODI Cricket," he wrote on Twitter, adding that he will be playing in the T20 side as a batsman. He said he conveyed his decision to the Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah besides all the selectors.

Speculation over Kohli stepping down from captaincy in the limited-over formats was doing the rounds for some time but the BCCI rubbished the reports. But the captain now has clarified the situation himself. Kohli has been leading India's T20 side since 2017 after Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped down. This will be the first time that he will lead the men in blue in the T20 World Cup.

Kohli is the second most successful India captain in the shortest format, winning so far 27 of the 45 games that he has led, losing 14, tying two while two games remained inconclusive. Dhoni remains the most successful captain for India in the format with 41 wins out of 72 matches, 28 losses, one tie and two no results.

As a batsman, Kohli has played 90 T20s so far in which he has made 3,159 runs at an average of 52.65 and top score of 94 not out. He has scored 28 fifties in the format.