'Astonishing': Kohli's childhood coach explains possible thought process behind Virat quitting Test captaincy suddenly
The 33-year-old's sudden announcement also shocked his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, who said that it was an “astonishing” call from Kohli.
Virat Kohli on Saturday surprised the cricket fraternity when he announced his decision to step down from India's Test captaincy. Kohli, who had already relinquished the leadership role in T20Is earlier and was succeeded by Rohit Sharma as captain in ODIs, led the Indian team for the final time in the longest format of the game in the series against South Africa, which ended earlier this week.
The 33-year-old's sudden announcement also shocked his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, who said that it was an “astonishing” call from Kohli. However, Sharma also insisted that he would defer from making a detailed comment until he knows the “actual picture" and added that Kohli hasn't taken this decision in haste.
"It is an astonishing decision. I will not want to comment too much on this because it is his personal decision and I will not want to say for what reason he has left captaincy. I will not be able to comment too much on what he has undergone till I know the actual picture. I can say that he has not taken this decision in a hurry," Sharma said on India News.
Kohli leaves captaincy with India at the top in the Test rankings and boasts of the best record among all Indian captains in the longest format. Sharma highlighted his achievements and paid tribute to Kohli.
"I believe he has had a huge contribution as captain in Indian cricket. He will be one of the most successful captains. When he became the captain the India team was at the 7th spot in Test cricket and today they are No. 1," said Sharma.
Earlier, tributes poured in from around the Indian cricket fraternity for the most successful Test captain from the country, with his teammates Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Mayank Agarwal among others joining to celebrate Kohli's career as Test captain.
The batter will be next seen in action in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, which begins on January 19. The series will also mark Kohli's first ODI appearance since being succeeded as captain by Rohit Sharma. However, the Mumbai-born Rohit will remain absent from the series due to fitness issues and KL Rahul will lead the team.
