'Didn't want to be dishonest towards my responsibility'- Virat Kohli on quitting RCB captaincy

Virat Kohli shocked the cricketing fraternity to a large extent by announcing to relinquish captaincy from T20Is and as well from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Kohli cited workload as one of the primary reasons, for stepping away from the captaincy. The 32-year-old’s wish to step down from the RCB captaincy mid-way during the ongoing 14th edition of the IPL was criticized by a lot of people.

Recently, a report had also emerged as to how the skipper had interaction with AB de Villiers in 2019 about quitting the role and staying with the team as a player only. Now, Kohli has himself opened about why he wished to relinquish captaincy. He also stated that he wishes to give 120% dedication in whatever he is doing and by being the captain of the team he was not able to do that.

“Firstly workload was the main factor and I did want to be dishonest towards my responsibility. If I cannot give 120% to something, I am not someone who would hold onto something, I am not attached to something like that and that was always very clear in my mind,” Kohli told to Star Sports.

Virat Kohli has been with the RCB since the inception of the IPL in 2008. After his stupendous success in the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, Kohli was snapped up by the franchise for his base price during the auction. Since then, he has evolved into a batter and one of the best leaders of the game. Since the 2013 edition of the IPL, Kohli is also the skipper of the team. During his time, he has taken the team to the finals in one edition of IPL in 2016 and managed to make it to the playoffs three times.

Royal Challengers Bangalore march along

This season, Kohli has been brilliant for the team especially as the leader. His captaincy has been spot on and the way each one of the players have stepped up during the league stage is testimony to that fact. RCB also reached the playoffs with two games to spare for the first time since the 2011 edition of the IPL. And now the team is ready to play KKR in the eliminator on Monday (October 11).