'He's not getting runs, pointing fingers at others': Ex-India pacer says Kohli was 'under pressure' since T20 WC debacle

In a matter of four months, Virat Kohli has entirely given up captaincy in all formats. In September, he announced that he was going to step down as India’s T20I captain after the World Cup, and in the days to follow, relinquished captaincy of IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore.

In the first week of December, the BCCI removed him from ODI captaincy too, and when many expected him to continue as Test captain for another couple of years, Kohli surprised everyone by dropping the bombshell of stepping down as India’s Test skipper as well.

Weighing in on Kohli’s decision, former fast bowler Atul Wassan said the development does not surprise him one bit because following India’s poor show at the T20 World Cup, it was only a matter of time before the 33-year-old took the call to step down as captain in all formats.

"Nothing shocks me. What shocked me was MS Dhoni quitting Test captaincy in the middle of the series in Australia. I think the way things have been going by the last couple of months India’s debacle in the T20 WC there was pressure on him," Wassan told ANI.

"He is not getting runs. At times, he is pointing fingers at other players and as a captain, he must do that to egg them on and I totally support him for that but the problem was that earlier he was leading by example but lately, the thing is his batsmanship has come down." 

Wassan pointed out what made the decision easier for Kohli was the fact that the BCCI took away from him ODI captaincy. Wassan reckons Kohli’s aim would have surely been to lead the team at the 2023 World Cup in India and once that opportunity was taken from him, Virat felt it was only natural to concentrate entirely on his batting given the little dip he has endured in the last couple of years.

"Every batsman, every player goes through that and it could accentuate that he was captaining all three formats. He also started the conundrum when he said he doesn’t want to do T20 captaincy which was the right decision but I think the board actually took it in a skewed manner and he never expected that he would lose his 50-over captaincy because his goal was to win the World Cup. This was what was missing from his cupboard,” said the former pacer.