Virat Kohli on Saturday surprised the cricket fraternity when he announced his decision to step down from India's Test captaincy. His last series as Test captain came against South Africa which India lost 1-2.

He captained India from 2014/15-2022 and won 11 straight series at home and in Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Australia overseas. Kohli had already relinquished the leadership role in T20Is earlier and was succeeded by Rohit Sharma as captain in ODIs soon after.

The 33-year-old's sudden announcement also shocked his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, who said that it was an “astonishing” call from Kohli. However, he refrained to comment on anything until he knows the “actual picture" and added that Kohli hasn't taken this decision in haste.

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"It is an astonishing decision. I will not want to comment too much on this because it is his personal decision and I will not want to say for what reason he has left captaincy. I will not be able to comment too much on what he has undergone till I know the actual picture. I can say that he has not taken this decision in a hurry," Sharma said on India News.

Sharma further highlighted his achievements and paid tribute to Kohli.

"I believe he has had a huge contribution as captain in Indian cricket. He will be one of the most successful captains. When he became the captain the India team was at the 7th spot in Test cricket and today they are No.1," said Sharma.

Kohli will next be seen in action in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, which begins on January 19.