New Zealand pacer Tim Southee on Monday (December 21) said white-ball captaincy exit will ease off the weight of pressure from Virat Kohli’s shoulders going forward.
Earlier this month, BCCI replaced Kohli with Rohit Sharma as ODI skipper, relieving the former from the leadership responsibilities in the limited-overs format.
"I don't know what it was like to captain India and the pressures that come with it. Not only that, but IPL as well. He's done it over a period of time. It will be interesting from a fan point of view to see him put all his energies on captaincy and channel them into his batting and fielding," Southee said in an interaction facilitated by Amazon Prime Video, which will start streaming cricket matches live from January 1, 2022.
“I am sure it’s a weight off his shoulders, and the person that he is, he will be contributing in some leadership form or another throughout the rest of his playing days,” he added.
Before being sacked as ODI captain, Virat Kohli had himself resigned from the captaincy of RCB and India’s T20I side.
According to Southee, Kohli’s presence will only help the new captain of RCB and Rohit Sharma.
"I am sure it will be great for the new captain of RCB, and Rohit Sharma and Team India, to have someone like Virat to turn to and have a shoulder to lean on out of the field as well,” he said.
“You see him as a very passionate guy who loves the game and brings energy for the side. Just how much time he puts in the game. I got to know him away from the game as well (at RCB), sitting over a coffee, drink or dinner and talk and find out about his interests.”
Virat Kohli has failed to live up to the expectations with the bat in the last couple of years. His last international century came against Bangladesh in a Test match in November 2019.
Commenting on Kohli’s lean patch, Southee said: “I guess it happens when you bat the way Virat bats and score the volume of runs he gets, you have set such high standards. Then, for some games or however long he has not been as amazing as we are used to seeing.”
“We have been very lucky as a bowling group against Virat. The addition of Kyle Jamieson has done a lot to us. I haven't had to bowl for him as much because Kyle has been the man to take care of him,” he concluded.
