"The timing could have been better" - Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli's announcement of quitting T20I captaincy
Aakash Chopra believes Virat Kohli's announcement of relinquishing India's T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup is a bit premature.
Kohli has posted messages on his social media accounts that he wants to give up the captaincy in the shortest format of the game to manage his workload. However, he has mentioned that he will continue to be the ODI and Test skipper.
🇮🇳 ❤️ https://t.co/Ds7okjhj9J
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra questioned the timing of Virat Kohli's announcement. He reasoned:
"I personally feel the timing could have been better. The rumor market is hot and would have gone cold after a few days and you could have captained in the World Cup at ease. If you had won the trophy, you could have bid goodbye after that and everyone would have clapped."
Click here for complete T20 World Cup standings till the finals.
The cricketer-turned-commentator feels that Virat Kohli could have made the decision public after the T20 World Cup 2021, irrespective of the result in the tournament. Chopra observed:
"If you had not won, then no problem. Of course, things can go this way or that way and then you could have said that it is enough, it did not happen and you want to step aside."
While acknowledging that Virat Kohli has the right to make his own call, Aakash Chopra highlighted that there is still a lot of time to go before the T20 World Cup. He elaborated:
"The IPL has not even started and before that, you have decided that you will leave the captaincy after captaining in the World Cup, I find it slightly off. It is his decision, when he wants to leave captaincy is completely in his hands. But personally, I am slightly concerned about the timing."
Certain reports suggest that Virat Kohli was aware that he might be stripped of the limited-overs captaincy if India doesn't win the T20 World Cup. Hence, he decided to leave on his own terms.
"It's a strange equation" - Aakash Chopra on India's captaincy split between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
Aakash Chopra also feels that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma playing under each other in different formats might make it an awkward situation. He explained:
"When the same two players play all the three formats, and one is the captain in one format and the other in the other two, it's a strange equation. It is slightly difficult to balance that."
Having got so used to him dominating the screen & the narrative as captain, it’ll be strange to see Virat Kohli on the field & not leading India in any format. But it felt the same with MS Dhoni in early 2017 when he stepped down & we did get used to him as a “player” for 2 years
He drove home his point by pointing out that Anil Kumble was not in India's limited-overs side when MS Dhoni was the white-ball skipper and the latter was not part of the Test team when Virat Kohli was leading the side.