Virat Kohli on Sunday (September 19) took everyone by surprise as he announced his decision to step down as RCB’s captain after the end of the IPL 2021 season.
It was only last week that Kohli had quit India’s T20I captaincy, citing that he will have to manage his workload.
Amid the development, former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has said that Kohli’s young family could have played a big role in him deciding to relinquish captaincy in the shortest format.
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“He’s been with RCB from the very beginning. I don’t know, as life goes on you start to prioritise things. He’s (Virat) got a young family right now and captaincy can weigh heavily on the brain, and your personal life can also heavily weigh on you," said Steyn to T20 Time Out on ESPNcricinfo.
“Maybe, relinquishing a little bit of that responsibility (captaincy) and just being able to focus on his batting is a good decision at this time of his career,” he added.
Steyn further said that nobody doubted Kohli’s captaincy and his decision should be respected.
“We don’t doubt his captaincy. He is a fantastic leader and his personal achievements speak for themselves. So it’s really up to him as to what he wants to do so. Maybe it’s a good decision as the (T20) World Cup is round the corner. We could see the best of Virtat coming out in the remaining of the IPL (games) and the World Cup."
According to Steyn, Kohli could have taken the decision to escape criticism if he doesn’t perform in the IPL.
“He may be trying to put out or extinguish some fires before they actually happen. Relinquishing the Indian captaincy, if he has 2-3 bad scores in the next couple of games in IPL, people might start questioning him whether he should give up the RCB captaincy. Before that comes into question, he may have decided ‘before we go down that road then you should say this is also part of my thinking’," he remarked.
While making the announcement to quit captaincy, Virat Kohli also said “I will continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game.”
Commenting on Kohli’s statement, Steyn said: “Doesn’t matter how good a player you are, you could see yourself walking (it’s the franchise owner’s call). I mean I’ve seen Chris Gayle leave the team but he’s not an Indian legend. We have also seen David Beckham leave Man United after playing for an entire lifespan and go and play for other teams. Cristiano Ronaldo recently returned to Man United, so you don’t know…you have these famous people play for club teams for a long time. And, who knows Virat, who is originally from Delhi, might end up finishing with the Delhi franchise.”
“But it’s nice to know he has committed himself to the club (RCB) and wants to be there to see the IPL trophy come to them. He has given so many years of effort… I think that could be at the back of his mind, that he is not going to leave there until he wins an IPL trophy."
