The 33-year-old signed off with a win over Namibia by nine wickets in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
New Delhi: Virat Kohli signed off as Team India’s T20I captain with a win over Namibia by nine wickets in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup on Monday (November 8, 2021). The 33-year-old, however, couldn’t take his team to its second T20 World Cup title as they were already ousted from the tournament after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games.
“It’s been an honour, but things have to be seen in the right perspective,” Kohli said after the consolation win.
“It’s been six-seven years of intense cricket. Every time you take the field, it takes a lot out of you. We were not brave enough in the first two games, we suffered because of that. We knew that afterwards it would be complicated for us to go through,” he added.
“I thought this was the right time for me to manage my workload,” Kohli who led India in 50 T20I matches said.
Under his tenure, India won 32 matches and lost 16, while two games didn’t have any result.
Kohli, however, will continue to captain India in Tests and one-day formats.
During the toss against Namibia, Kohli also hinted that Team India’s new Twenty20 captain would be his deputy Rohit Sharma.
“I think it’s time for the next lot to take this team forward. Obviously, Rohit is here and he’s overlooking things for a while now,” Kohli expressed.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul’s fiery opening partnership helped India defeat Namibia by nine wickets. Chasing 133, Sharma and Rahul gave team India another blistering start and played knocks of 56 and 54 runs respectively.
Brief Scores: Namibia 132/8 (David Wiese 26, Stephan Baard 21; Ravindra Jadeja 3-16) vs India 136/1 (Rohit Sharma 56, KL Rahul 54*; Jan Frylinck 1-19).
