Retired Hurt: Virat Kohli steps down as India Test captain day after series defeat against South Africa

Virat Kohli sent shockwaves across the cricketing fraternity on Saturday when he announced his decision to step down as the captain of the Indian cricket team in the Test format.

Kohli, who signs off as the most successful Indian Test captain, announced his decision on Twitter a day after India suffered a second consecutive seven-wicket defeat to surrender the three-Test series to South Africa by a 2-1 margin.

India had begun the series with a 113-run victory in Centurion, but suffered near-identical defeats in Johannesburg and Cape Town that extended their wait for a maiden Test series win on South African soil.

Kohli had taken over the role midway during the 2014-15 tour of Australia after previous leader MS Dhoni took everyone by surprise by announcing his Test retirement after the second Test.

“Everything has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test Captain of India, it’s now. There have been many ups and also some downs along the journey, but never has there been a lack of effort or lack of belief,” Kohli wrote in a post on Twitter that has since gathered tens of thousands or retweets and nearly two hundred thousand likes.

Kohli also thanked former head coach Ravi Shastri and ex-skipper MS Dhoni for their help in his journey as captain.

“To Ravi Bhai and the support group who were the engine behind this vehicle that moved upwards in Test cricket consistently, you all have played a massive role in bringing this vision to life.

“Lastly, a big thank you to MS Dhoni who believed in me as a Captain and found me to be an able individual who could take Indian cricket forward,”

In the 68 matches that he has led the country in the format in the last seven years, India have won 40, lost 17 and drawn 11, making him the fourth most successful captain of all time behind South Africa’s Graeme Smith (53 wins) and Australia’s Ricky Ponting (48 wins) and Steve Waugh (41 wins).

Among Kohli’s first major assignments after taking over full time as the Test captain was the three-Test series in Sri Lanka in 2015, in which the visitors bounced back from a loss in the opening game to win the next two and register their maiden Test series win on Indian soil.

One of Kohli’s biggest triumphs as Test captain was leading India to their first-ever Test series win in Australia in the 2018-19 tour, in which the visitors registered victories in Adelaide and Melbourne, while losing the second Test at Perth and drawing the fourth match in Sydney.

Earlier this year, the Kohli-led visitors also registered wins at Lord’s and Oval in the Test series in England. India were 2-1 up in the five-match rubber heading into the final Test at Manchester, which ultimately had to be postponed to next year due to a COVID scare. The final Test will now take place in June later this year, and will interestingly have a different captain and a head coach.

Kohli had earlier announced his decision to step down as T20I captain following the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE in November, in which the Men in Blue failed to reach the semi-finals after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two games.

He was then involved in a war of words with the BCCI after a breakdown in communication between the batting superstar and the board while the selection panel was announcing Kohli’s removal as ODI captain and Rohit Sharma’s elevation to the role in a full-time capacity.

Things got even more ugly after Kohli directly contracted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s statement in which the latter had said he had requested Kohli not to step down as T20 captain in the first place, and that having two white-ball captains was not feasible.

Kohli, in a virtual press conference before the team’s departure for South Africa, said he never had such a conversation with anyone from the board in the first place, and that he was told about his removal as ODI captain just one-and-a-half hours before the official announcement.

On Saturday, however, Kohli also thanked the board in his statement.

“I want to thank the BCCI for giving me the opportunity to lead my country for such a long period of time and more importantly, to all the teammates who bought into the vision I had for the team from day one and never gave up in any situation,” Kohli added.

Kohli had also stepped down as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the end of Indian Premier League (IPL) earlier this year, guiding the franchise into the playoffs in his final season in charge.