KING KOHLI QUITS TEST CAPTAINCY, LEAVES AS INDIA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL TEST CAPTAIN

In a stunning move that has stirred the cricketing world, Virat Kohli decided to quit the captaincy of Team India even in Test Cricket.

Kohli announced his decision through social media on Saturday evening. He wrote, “everything has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test captain of India, it’s now.”

While tongues are wagging about the reasons behind the sudden announcement, it is the ending of an exceptional run which made Kohli the most successful captain of India ahead of M.S.Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly.

His admirable leadership qualities took the Indian Test team to unprecedented success as he led India to 40 wins in the total 68 test matches where he was the skipper.

Under Kohli, India won their first Test series in Australia and also lead 2-1 against England on their home turf. Along with Shastri, he turned Team India into a formidable force in Test Cricket.

 Most importantly, his being at the helm made sure that world class fitness became a necessity for anyone to be an integral part of the Indian team.

Apart from all the cricketing achievements as captain, he will be known as someone who changed the image of Indian cricketers as rather laidback and slow on the field to being fast and sprightly athletes.

He took over the mantle of captaincy from M.S. Dhoni in 2014-15 on a tour to Australia where his own batting form had stunned the world.

He had big shoes to fill in, but he rapidly took the Indian Test Team from the seventh spot in rankings to number one in the last seven years.

Apart from overhauling fitness, Kohli also brought about a change in mindset when the playing eleven consistently played with five bowlers. Previously, Dhoni preferred to have a batsman extra and played with four bowlers.

But Kohli talked about getting 20 wickets regularly and insisted on the batters to take on more responsibility.

His decision comes a day after India lost against South Africa 2-1. It was a series marked as India’s final frontier as they had never won a series in South Africa.

Kohli’s men were the favorites and it looked like history was about to be made after India won the first Test match. But Kohli had a back spasm in the next match and didn’t play.

India lost the match under K.L.Rahul’s captaincy and then lost the final match under Kohli’s captaincy, which perhaps became one of the many reasons for his decision to step down.

This defeat also brought to an end Kohli’s dream of making history by ensuring victories in SENA countries as Indian Captain.

Though Virat’s own batting showed signs of recovering, he was nowhere near his best. His invaluable 79 in the first innings of the last Test was a laboured effort and a rather un-Kohli knock.

But Kohli fans have always been treated to great batting while he was captain. Most captains find it difficult to better their averages leading the side with extra responsibilities, but not Kohli.

He averaged 54.8 and made 5864 runs with 20 hundreds in 68 Tests as Captain. He also missed a couple of records by a whisker as he was just a century short of going ahead of Ricky Ponting as the Captain with most centuries.

Moreover, Kohli was just a win away from surpassing Steve Waugh as the second most successful Test Captain . Also, India never lost a Test series at home under Kohli, winning all 11 series played.

His decision has left many people surprised. Last month, there was a huge controversy over his sacking from One Day captaincy and Virat went on record to say that he wasn’t made aware of the decision earlier by selectors.

His strained relationship with BCCI boss, Sourav Ganguly, may have also led to Virat deciding to leave Test Captaincy in order to avoid two power centers along with Rohit Sharma.

Maybe, it was old cricketing wisdom at play, best to leave when people ask WHY instead of WHY Not! Wishes have poured in from all parts of the world for Kohli.

Some of his past teammates have lauded and congratulated him for his fantastic tenure as Test Captain.

Most cricket fans will hope that without the burden of captaincy weighing him down, Kohli may score many more runs in the next few years. He could regain his midas touch with the bat that has eluded him of late.

While all endings are new beginnings, Kohli will hope that is certainly the case with his own batting form, one that the fans have missed sorely in the past couple of years as an international century has eluded him for over two years.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL