Virat Kohli to step down as T20 captain after WC

MUMBAI: Virat Kohli on Thursday announced that the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in UAE will be his last as India’s captain in the format, capping weeks of speculation over the possibility of splitting the leadership of the national team.

The announcement, made by Kohli on social media, came exactly a month before the tournament begins, and three days before the restart of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where Kohli captains the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

“Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI Cricket,” Kohli said in his statement.

“I have given everything to the Team during my time as T20 Captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 Team as a batsman moving forward... Of course, arriving at this decision took a lot of time... I’ve decided to step

Virat Kohli’s announcement on Thursday ends speculation surrounding his future as Team India’s T20 captain

“I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket... I have given everything to the team during my time as T20 captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 team as a batsman moving forward.” – Virat Kohli

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NR down as the T20 Captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October,” Kohli said in the statement.

Kohli mentioned Rohit Sharma as “an essential part of the leadership group” and as one of the people he consulted before taking the call amid speculation

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In his Thursday’s announcement, Kohli mentioned Rohit Sharma as “an essential part of the leadership group” and as one of the people he consulted before taking the call. Rohit is now widely speculated to take over as captain

that the latter will take over as captain.

People aware of the matter said that Kohli called the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah to inform them of his decision.

“I have been in discussions

with Virat and the leadership team for the last six months and the decision has been thought through,” Shah said in a statement.

Yet, only a few days back, BCCI officials denied reports that Kohli would step down after the World