Wanted some space, manage my workload: Kohli on leaving captaincy

Kohli first stood down as India's T20I skipper last year and then he was removed as the ODI skipper. And earlier this year, Kohli also stood down as India's Test skipper.

New Delhi: India batter Virat Kohli has said that there is nothing to be shocked about his leaving the captaincy as he does not hold onto things more than he should.

Kohli first stood down as India’s T20I skipper last year and then he was removed as the ODI skipper. And earlier this year, Kohli also stood down as India’s Test skipper.

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The batter also decided to leave the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) last year and from this season onwards, the franchise will have a new leader.

“I am not someone who holds onto things more than I should. Even if I know I can do a lot more, if I am not going to enjoy the process, I’m not going to do it. Because it’s very difficult for people to understand your decisions unless they are in your situation. From the outside, people have their own expectations ‘Oh! How did that happen? We are so shocked’,” Kohli said on the RCB Podcast.

“There’s nothing to be shocked about. I explain to people, I wanted some space and I wanted to manage my workload and the story ends there. There was actually nothing at all. I keep my life very simple and basic, when I wanted to make a decision, I made a decision and I announced it,” he added.

Further talking about his decision, Kohli said: “I didn’t want to think about it and contemplate it for another year. That would have done nothing to me, nothing to the environment I’m part of. Quality of life is something very important to me. And the quality of cricket is something very important to me.” “Over a period of time, you want to do what you’re doing day-in-and-day-out and you want to do as much as you can, but at the end of the day, you have to realize that quality is far more important than quantity. Quantity in hard work, quality in execution,” he added.

Kohli has not scored a century since November 2019. His last ton in international cricket came in a day-night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens.

The batter will next be seen in action against Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series, and he will also play his 100th Test in that series.