“That’s when you realize, maybe I shouldn't give my advice” - Virat Kohli on transitioning from captain to player

Virat Kohli relinquished India's T20I and RCB captaincy in 2021 and Test captaincy in 2022.

Virat Kohli admitted that the transition from being captain to player was not that easy, especially in the Indian team. Kohli led the Indian team from 2014-2021 and stepped down as India's captain after the T20 World Cup 2021 and in Tests from January 2022.

He was replaced by Rohit Sharma as ODI captain in the midst and then in all formats. Kohli explained that the process – albeit not an arduous one – has taken him time to get used to being the player and not the captain and insisted that he has 'let go' any captaincy duties that he may have had inside of him once he walked away from the post.

"Of course, there is. I would be lying if I say it's not. Because you go into a position of being responsible for everything that's going on around you and to not be in that position, takes a bit of time to process it, understand it and let that become normal. It's not so much letting go because once you have decided that you don't want to do it, you've already let go of it in a sense but it's the moments where the game is in the balance and that's when you feel like 'Umm, we should… Ah! And that's when you realise that no, maybe I should not give me advice right now because the plan seems to be already made and it's clear," Kohli said on the RCB podcast.

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"These are the kind of things that happen when you understand that ok hold on, you need to kind of hold yourself back. So these are the only things I am talking about in those crunch moments because you've been always involved in taking decision on those moments. It naturally kicks in again that 'do I need to take that decision?' and then you realise that 'oh, it's working well,” he added.

Shortly after leaving the T20I captaincy, Kohli also stepped down as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore with IPL 2021 being his last tournament at the helm of the franchise. A few months later, as RCB appointed Faf du Plessis as their captain, Kohli welcomed the decision.

"There have been so many instances as well when I would run to Faf and tell him 'You know what? I strongly feel we should do this'. And he's been happy enough to take it and clear enough to tell me he doesn't want to do that at that point of time. It's been very respectful," Kohli said candidly.

(Hindustan Times inputs)