"He wants to make himself unsackable" - Sanjay Manjrekar reflects on Virat Kohli's decision to quit Test captaincy
Sharing his thoughts on Virat Kohli’s sudden decision to step down as Test captain, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar opined that the star batter wants to make himself ‘unsackable’ as skipper.
Kohli’s announcement came just a day after India went down to South Africa by seven wickets in the Cape Town Test, thus squandering another opportunity to win a Test series in the Rainbow Nation.
Reflecting on the 33-year-old’s latest resignation, Manjrekar pointed out that Kohli has quit a number of important posts in a short time. The former batter said in a discussion on ESPN Cricinfo:
“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 made an interesting observation and added:
“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.”
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Under Kohli, India won the first Test in Centurion to raise hopes of a maiden series win in South Africa. However, India went down by seven wickets in Johannesburg in Kohli’s absence. He was back for the decider in Cape Town but the visitors again lost by the same margin.
“A guy who finds himself outside his comfort zone” - Sanjay Manjrekar on Virat Kohli’s resignation spree
Manjrekar also claimed that the change in guard at BCCI, as well as Ravi Shastri’s exit as coach, pushed Kohli out of his comfort zone. The 56-year-old elaborated:
“The landscape is changing, the scenario around Virat Kohli that allowed him to be himself and flourish. Ravi Shastri coming in. He was uncomfortable when Anil Kumble was the coach and once Shastri and the support staff came in, he felt comfortable. The new coach (Rahul Dravid) is no Ravi Shastri. He would have got some inkling of the kind of support he was going to get.”
Manjrekar concluded:
“The regime change in the BCCI also has something to do with all these important announcements that Virat has made. Clearly, a guy who finds himself outside his comfort zone. Individually, his batting is not at its best. All that has just added up. He is not in a great space at the moment. These are all emotional decisions that one can understand.”
🗣️ "I believe that one player leading the team is crucial. It was on my mind when Virat took over the Test captaincy." - MS Dhoni in 2017.
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Kohli ends his stint as India's most successful Test captain. He led the team in 68 matches, winning 40 of them.