Virat will have to give up his ego, play under a young cricketer: Kapil Dev on Kohli's post-captaincy stint

Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as the Test captain of the Indian cricket team on Saturday, 15 January, left many people stunned. Many current and former players congratulated the 33-year-old on his terrific seven-year stint as Test captain, including former Indian batsman Kapil Dev. [caption id=“attachment_10289371” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Virat Kohli is India’s most successful Test captain of all time. AP[/caption] In an interview to Mid-Day, Dev said that he welcomed Kohli’s decision to step down as captain, adding that maybe he was not “enjoying the captaincy.” The former batter also stated that Kohli must have thought long before making the decision to step down as Test captain. “He was going through a rough time ever since he gave up the T20 captaincy, Dev said about Kohli, adding that the 33-year-old batsman “has looked tense in recent times" and appeared to be under a huge amount of pressure. According to Dev, Kohli opted to focus on his batting and “play freely” by giving up the captaincy. Kapil Dev also asserted that Kohli would “have to give up his ego and play under a young cricketer”. According to Dev, this trend has been there for a long time, with Sunil Gavaskar playing under his captaincy and Dev himself working under Mohammad Azharuddin and Krishnamachari Srikkanth. The former Indian captain also suggested that Kohli should guide the new players and captain. “We cannot lose Virat, the batsman…no way,” Dev said. Kohli is regarded as India’s most successful Test captain, with 40 wins in the 68 matches he led. He announced his decision to step down just days after India was defeated by South Africa in the bilateral Test series 2-1. Kohli holds the record for most appearances as Indian Test captain with 68 matches. He led the team to the top spot of International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings. Under Kohli’s captaincy, India also reached the final of the World Test Championship in 2021, but failed to win against New Zealand and clinch the trophy. However, 2021 was not the best year for Kohli in terms of his batting performance, with the ace batsman scoring 536 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 28.21. He recently stepped down from T20 and ODI captaincy as well, with Rohit Sharma assuming the position. No official announcement has been made on who will assume the post of India’s Test captain.