Picture Credit: Twitter/@BCCI
Few days back, the Indian cricket fans were left absolutely shocked when Virat Kohli made a sudden announcement of his decision to step down as India's T20I captain after 2021 T20 World Cup. While there were speculations around the same for a while, no one expected Kohli to make the announcement just a month before the start of mega event.
The 32-year-old posted a letter on his social media account where he also went on to explain that he was taking this decision to manage his work load. "Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 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," stated Kohli.
Just a few days later, he also confirmed that he will step down as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore after IPL 2021. The sequence of events left everyone quite puzzled as people failed to understand what was going on in Virat Kohli's head. Everyone wondered if he was taking the decision voluntarily or if he was under some pressure.
It was getting really tough for Kohli to manage time: Raj Kumar Sharma
However, Kohli's childhood coach Raj Kumar Sharma has now put an end to all the speculations by revealing that the cricketer had been thinking about taking this step for some time now. In an interview, he said, "He (Kohli) had been thinking about this (stepping down from India's T20I captaincy) for some days. I was, maybe, stopping him from taking the decision in a hurry. However, being a family man, he started thinking that he needs to give more time to his daughter and family."
Watch the video here:
Reflecting on his discussions with Virat Kohli, Raj Kumar Sharma explained that the 32-year-old was probably right as he was getting no time and space for himself and his family while fulfilling the responsibilities as captain of Team India. "When he used to wake up, he had to attend bowlers meeting at 11, followed by batsmen meeting at 12 followed by team meeting. It was getting really tough for him to manage time. This is why he decided to step down from one format (T20I) at least."