Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli made headlines recently when he stepped down from Test captaincy. While Kohli was expected to give up on white-ball captaincy at some point in his career, his numbers as the Test captain speak volumes about his leadership and thus, it came as a shocker when he stepped down as India’s Test captain after the conclusion of India’s tour of South Africa.
Earlier, ahead of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, Kohli announced his decision to step down as the skipper in the shortest format and was later removed as the ODI skipper by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Talking about the recent developments, Kohli opined that he might be able to contribute more as a batsman in the team and he takes pride in that.
“See, I think firstly you need to have a complete understanding of what you set out to achieve and whether you have achieved those targets or not. Everything has a tenure and time period, so you have to be aware of it. As a batter, you might be able to give more to the team, so take pride in that,” said Kohli on an episode of ‘Fireside Chat with VK’.
Kohli, who won 40 out of 68 Tests as captain, added that a player need not be the captain of a side to be a leader. Kohli gave the example of his predecessor, MS Dhoni, saying he took inputs from Dhoni even when he was not the captain of the side.
“You do not need to be a captain to be the leader. When MS Dhoni was in the team, it was not like he was not the leader, he was still the guy from whom we wanted to have inputs. To win or not win is not in your hands, the striving for excellence and to be better every day, is not something you can do short term. When it comes to a culture, it will last beyond your playing years and your responsibility,” he added.
Kohli, who had replaced Dhoni as India’s full-time captain across formats in 2017, added that he used to think like a skipper even when he was part of the Indian team just as a player.
“To add to that, moving on is also a part of leadership, to understand the right time to do that. I think one has to embrace all kinds of roles and opportunities. I have played under MS Dhoni for a while and then I became the captain, my mindset has been the same all this while. I always thought like a captain when I was just a player in the team,” the 33-year-old said.
The BCCI had named Rohit Sharma as Kohli’s successor in white-ball cricket while the name of India’s next Test captain is yet to be announced.
