Kohli to quit T20 captaincy after World T20

Virat Kohli on Thursday announced that he will step down as India’s T20 captain after the T20 World Cup in United Arab Emirates (UAE) but will continue to lead the side in one day internationals (ODIS) and Test cricket.

“I’ve decided to step down as the T20 captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October,” Kohli (pictured) said in a statement on his Twitter page.

For some time, there has been speculation about Kohli’s future as white-ball captain especially in the backdrop of Rohit Sharma’s brilliant track record of winning five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles for Mumbai Indians.

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

“I have given my everything to the team during my time as T20 captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 captain and will continue to do so for the T20 team as a batsman moving forward,” he further added.

The decision, Kohli said, was taken after consulting head coach Ravi Shastri, his heir apparent Sharma, Board of Control for Cricket in India President Sourav Ganguly and its secretary, Jay Shah.