Virat Kohli steps down as T20 skipper, expresses 'relief'

INDIA captain Virat Kohli on Monday (8) played his last match as T20 captain against Namibia in the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The ace batter won his final game by nine wickets but faced disappointment as India saw an early exit from the tournament after losing two crucial games against Pakistan and New Zealand.

Kohli ended up captaining India in 50 T20Is in which he led his country to 30 wins. He lost 16 games while two were tied and two remained inconclusive.

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The 33-year-old, who will now play as a batter in the shortest format, felt it was the right time to manage his workload and said he feels relieved to have passed on the baton to Rohit Sharma, India’s vice-captain in the short formats who, according to Kohli, will be overseeing things “for a while now”.

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“It’s been an honour but things need to be kept at the right perspective. I felt this was the right time to manage my workload. It’s been six or seven years of heavy workload and there is a lot of pressure,” Kohli, who is among the top 10 international run aggregators, added.

Kohli, who thanked all support staff members, also said “aggression” defines his game and the day that fizzles out, he will quit.

“That is never going to change. The day it does, I’ll stop playing cricket. Even before I became captain, I had always loved to contribute in some way or the other,” he said.

On promoting Suryakumar Yadav to No.3 spot in the game against Namibia, Kohli said, “Surya didn’t get much game time in this World Cup, so I thought it will be a nice memory to take back. That was the idea. He didn’t have one good outing, then he was injured and later he didn’t get to bat against Afghanistan. So I thought it would be good for him to take something back from a stage like the T20 World Cup.”