"It is an astonishing decision" - Virat Kohli's coach Rajkumar Sharma on his ward giving up Team India's Test captaincy
Virat Kohli's coach Rajkumar Sharma has expressed astonishment at his ward's decision to give up Team India's Test captaincy.
The Indian team under Kohli were stunned by South Africa in the recently-concluded Test series. A day later, the Indian Test captain made it public on social media that he was stepping down from his position.
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During a discussion on India News, Rajkumar Sharma was asked about the call taken by Kohli and the reason behind the same. He responded:
"It is an astonishing decision. I will not want to comment too much on this because it is his personal decision and I will not want to say for what reason he has left captaincy. I will not be able to comment too much on what he has undergone till I know the actual picture. I can say that he has not taken this decision in a hurry."
The former first-class cricketer also highlighted Kohli's contribution in taking the Indian team to lofty heights in the Test format. Sharma elaborated:
"I believe he has had a huge contribution as captain in Indian cricket. He will be one of the most successful captains. When he became the captain the India team was at the 7th spot in Test cricket and today they are No. 1."
Team India won 40 of the 68 Tests they played under Kohli's leadership. While they have been ranked No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings for the majority of the last few years, their inability to win the World Test Championship final would have hurt them a lot.
"There was no expectation that Virat Kohli will react like this so suddenly" - Saba Karim
Saba Karim was also taken by surprise by Virat Kohli's decision. He observed:
"It is an astonishing decision by Kohli because there was no expectation that he will react like this so suddenly. But the way the things had unfolded with Virat Kohli, the way he was removed from white-ball captaincy and then he gave the press conference."
The former India wicket-keeper feels the recent confrontation with the BCCI might have contributed to Kohli's decision. Karim explained:
"The statement Chetan Sharma gave, it was showing that what Virat Kohli had said was not the truth. Seeing all this, it seems Kohli has got sort of tired, he wants to play for India being away from all of these things and doesn't want to take all this pressure."
Chetan Sharma says everyone in the selection meeting including selectors, BCCI officials, convenor and all present requested Virat Kohli to continue as T20 captain. So BCCI clarification on the ongoing controversy.
Kohli contradicted Sourav Ganguly and the other BCCI members' statements that the Indian captain was asked not to step down as the T20I skipper ahead of the T20 World Cup. However, Chetan Sharma, the chairman of the selection committee, subsequently corroborated the BCCI version of the story.