Virat Kohli jolted the cricket fraternity and the Indian team fans after he decided to step down as the Test captain of the national team. This came after India lost the three-Test series against South Africa 1-2.
Virat Kohli had already quit as T20I captain after the T20 World Cup 2021 and was then sacked as ODI captain of the Indian team, as the selection committee cited ‘too many captains’ as reasons for handing the limited-overs reins to Rohit Sharma.
However it was expected Kohli would lead the Indian team for a long time in the red-ball format, but after the Indian team lost to a South African team that was devoid of most of their star power, this decision of Kohli came quite as a shock to many.
He leaves the Indian team after leading them to win in 40 Tests in 68 matches he captained in. He also took the team to no.1 ranking in Tests and the team stayed at the pinnacle for five years in a row. India also reached the finals of the ICC World Test Championship under his leadership and Kohli became the first Indian captain to win a Test series in Australia ever.
Amidst flowing tributes to Virat Kohli, he received a rich one from Sir Viv Richards, who tweeted, “Congratulations @imVkohli on a stunning run as the Indian captain. You can be very proud of what you have achieved so far, and for sure, your name will be up there among the best leaders in world cricket.”
Former Australia spinner Shane Warne also joined the legends congratulating Virat Kohli on his captaincy tenure and said: “Congrats @imVkohli on what you and your team has achieved under your leadership and thankyou for supporting test cricket so passionately and insuring that it stays the number 1 form of the game”
Michael Vaughan, who famously led the England team to an Ashes series win over Australia in 2005, which is regarded as one of the best Test series ever, lauded Kohli and tweeted: “Captaincy always comes to an end eventually .. The job @imVkohli has done for India has been fantastic but the job of sending the message Test Cricket is still the most important has been one everyone in the game should thank him for.”
