Virat Kohli stunned the world when he tweeted his resignation as India’s Test captain on Saturday evening. This came just a day after his side had been beaten by South Africa in Cape Town as the hosts clinched the series 2-1 after being down in the first Test.
Now, it has been learned that Kohli had decided about quitting the Test captaincy before the loss. Cricbuzz reported that Virat Kohli had already “planned to relinquish the captaincy even if India, favourites to beat South Africa, had won the series.”
While he made his decision public via Twitter on Saturday, he had announced this to his teammates and the staff on Friday, the day India suffered a 7-wicket loss in Cape Town. He had asked everyone in the dressing room to keep the news to themselves before he makes it public.
“I ask a small favour, please don’t share with anybody outside the dressing room,” a member in that meeting was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
Further, it has been revealed that Virat Kohli also made a phone call to BCCI secretary Jay Shah to inform him about his decision.
“The call to Shah about giving up the Test captaincy was instead direct, and no one else was part of that conversation,” the Cricbuzz report added.
BCCI has a month’s time to select the new Test captain. India host Sri Lanka for a 2-Test series in February-March.
Virat Kohli, who had taken the full-time Test captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2015, goes down as India’s most successful Test captain. He led the nation in 68 Tests, winnings 40 of those – the fourth-most number of wins for any Test captain – losing 17 and drawing 11. Among Indians, next on the list are Dhoni (27 wins from 60 matches) and Sourav Ganguly (21 wins out of 49).
