Kohli quits as skipper of Indian test team
Virat Kohli has stood down as India’s test captain following their 2-1 series defeat to South Africa.
Kohli, 33, has been in charge of the side since 2015 after succeeding MS Dhoni, and helped transform them into one of the world’s pre-eminent test cricket teams.
India won two series in Australia during his tenure — although he was largely absent for the second of those triumphs last year — together with away wins in the West Indies and Sri Lanka. The team were also 2-1 up in a four-test series in England last year before a Covid outbreak forced the final match to be postponed, and reached the final of the inaugural World Test Championship, which they lost to New Zealand.
“It’s been seven years of hard work, toil and relentless perseverance every day to take the team in the right direction. I’ve done the job with absolute honesty and left nothing out there,” Kohli wrote on Twitter.
“Everything has to come to a halt at some stage, and for me as test captain of India, it’s now. I have absolute clarity in my heart and I cannot be dishonest to the team.”
The notion of a captain embodying their team is often overblown. But it was seldom truer than with Kohli and India. Kohli — voracious in his ambitions and work ethic, and brash with it — seemed in keeping with the spirit of a modern India, who would be second to no one.
On the pitch, Kohli’s India were seldom second either. Since Kohli assumed the captaincy, India have won 44 of their 77 tests, and lost just 17. For the first time in test history, India have been the world’s leading side. New Zealand, the country with the second-best win-loss record since 2015, have lost an identical number of tests in this time but won 15 fewer.
But Kohli’s greatest impact as India captain was off the pitch. India’s best batsmen have often been mediocre fielders; Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, was curiously anonymous in the field. But through his ferocious commitment to training and fitness, Kohli has been at the vanguard of changing India into one of the best fielding sides in the world.
“He set an example for everyone,” Ishant Sharma said last year. “Take the case of fat percentage — before him, I had never heard of it being spoken about in the Indian team. It was totally about skill. But now, along with skill, it is also about fitness. So if you eat well, you stay strong in the field, maintain your fitness, your energy. After what he did for himself, it totally changed the system in the Indian cricket team.”
These changes might explain why three of this Indian test side’s totemic victories — the two in London last year, the heist for the ages at Brisbane last January — came deep into the fifth day.
On all three occasions, India overcame first innings deficits. Kohli’s team were strong front-runners but the very best of their wins often came when coming from behind.
Add it all together, and Kohli has presided over the finest Indian test side in history. At home, India could even claim to be the most dominant test side of all time. Since 2015, India have won 25 tests at home and lost just two.
Everything has to come to a halt at some stage, and for me as test captain of India, it’s now. I cannot be dishonest to the team. Virat Kohli