Gautam Gambhir, former India cricketer-turned-politician, feels that Virat Kohli might become a more dangerous batter in white-ball cricket after being freed from the responsibility of leading the team in ODIs and T20Is.
Kohli, who stepped down from the T20I captain after the T20 World Cup 2021, was removed from the ODI captaincy as well by the BCCI on December 8th and Rohit Sharma was given reins of the Indian team in both limited-overs formats.
Virat Kohli hasn't been in the best of forms with the bat over the last 2 years. Kohli last hit a hundred in 2019. However, at the age of 33, Kohli remains one of the fittest players around. His work ethic, willingness to improve his game are some of the attributes that are second to none.
I personally requested Virat Kohli not to give up the T20 captaincy- Sourav Ganguly
"Same as Rohit Sharma's role in red-ball cricket, it's just that captaincy is not there. It might just free Virat Kohli up much more. He might just become more dangerous in white-ball cricket with the pressure of captaincy not being there on his shoulders.
I am sure he is going to make India proud, he is going to keep getting runs in white-ball cricket or in red-ball cricket. At the same time, there will be two different guys probably giving their own thoughts, giving their own vision for the team,” Gambhir said during an interaction on the Star Sports show Follow the Blues.
Gambhir also said that he doesn’t feel Kohli will lose an iota of his intensity despite losing the captaincy of the Indian team in white-ball cricket.
"I am sure India will see the best of Virat Kohli, whether it is red-ball cricket or white-ball cricket. At the same time, the kind of passion he has shown over such a long period of time or the energy, you are going to see the same out of Virat Kohli, whether he is the captain or not,” Gambhir signed off.
