Virat Kohli shocked the cricketing fraternity by stepping down as India’s T20I captain earlier this week. He will continue to lead the national team for another couple of months and will pass over the baton after the T20 World Cup 2021, which ends on October 15.

As per Kohli, he stepped down due to the immense workload over the last 8-9 years. “Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all three formats and captaining regularly for last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian Team in Test and ODI cricket,” he wrote in his statement.

Kohli’s decision has left many shocked, including West Indies legend Brian Lara. Speaking to Cricket.com, Lara has said that he was shocked to hear the news as the Indian skipper had done a tremendous job. Kohli had first taken over as T20I captain in 2017.

“I was in shock because I think he’s (Kohli) done a tremendous job, played against all the big countries — South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia — beating all of them,” Lara told Cricket.com.

“This is actually his first (T20) World Cup as a captain, so this will end his career as a (T20I) captain after that. It’s a big shock. But the kind of intensity that he plays with, I feel that sometimes it might be good to take a step away, and concentrate may be on another format of the game.”

Under him, India won the T20I series in England and South Africa. Also, it was under Kohli’s captaincy that India won their first T20I against New Zealand. The Men in Blue also won the T20I series in NZ. Kohli has so far won 27 out of 45 T20Is.

The 32-year-old will continue to lead ODI and Test teams. As for his replacement, Rohit Sharma looks set to take over the charge in November. Many contenders will compete for vice-captaincy in the shortest format.