Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar isn’t too surprised that Virat Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy after India lost the series in South Africa by 1-2. The visitors’ dreams remained unfulfilled to win their first test series win in the rainbow nation.
Then on Saturday, Virat Kohli made this announcement that he would step down from the role. Kohli took over from MS Dhoni in January when the latter decided to call it a day from Test cricket and in around 6 years’ time, he led India in 68 Test matches with 40 wins and 17 losses.
Speaking to India Today, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar made a speculation that Virat’s decision to step down might come from the possibility that BCCI sacks him again in space of two months. Notable that Virat Kohli was sacked from ODI captaincy as the selectors wanted to have the same white-ball captain in both white-ball formats. Gavaskar believes that speculating something similar might have played a part in his decision.
The decision might have come at the presentation ceremony: Sunil Gavaskar
“I’m not surprised at all. I thought that it might have come at the presentation ceremony, but that would have looked like it has come out of a sense of anger having lost the series. So, I think a little bit of gap and the decision has come,” Gavaskar said on India Today.
Gavaskar also stated that the BCCI takes overseas loss very seriously so losing the series in South Africa might be under heavy scrutiny as the selectors have a next meeting to pick a test squad for the Sri Lanka series. He also pointed out that India started as strong favourites in the series against the inexperienced South Africa lineup.
A tough one to take. Thank you to all the fans for your support ???? pic.twitter.com/24wyhnhdyW
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 14, 2022
“As a captain, I have experienced that series defeats overseas are not taken too kindly by the board and the cricket-loving public or board officials. The captain is in danger of being sacked. That has happened in the past and I’m pretty certain that this could have happened this time around because this was a series that India was expected to win and win easily,” he added.
India squandered the advantage of a 1-0 lead which they took in Centurion and eventually conceded the series by 1-2 at Cape Town.
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