Back in January 2017, MS Dhoni stood down as captain of India’s T20 cricket team, and the nation were left wondering who would be able to follow in his footsteps. They didn’t need to worry, Virat Kohli came in and managed to not only keep his batting average up at a very high level, but also be a fantastic cricket captain, and push the team forward.
However, like all good things, this has to come to an end at some point. The 32-year-old has announced that he will step down as India T20 captain at the end of the T20 World Cup, which will be played in November this year.
After that, India will need to find someone to take over the team. They will have Kohli in the team as a batsman, but in terms of captaincy, on the back of Kohli and Dhoni, these are huge boots to fill.
The fairy tale finish for Kohli will of course be a winning end to his captaincy, leading India to another T20 trophy on the international stage. Many people believe that they have a great chance too and are towards the top of the betting to win the competition. As the tournament approaches, new UK betting offers will become available to use on cricket games and outright markets at the T20 World Cup.
The Legacy Kohli Leaves Behind
Of course, Kohli will continue to play the game, and without the pressure of captaining the team, he could well remain at a high level for a number of years. This is good news for whoever comes in to be captain, as they have a top quality batsman at their disposal.
As captain, before his last passage of play at the T20 World Cup this year, Kohli has captained the Indian T20 side a total of 45 times. He’s won 27 of those games, lost 14, drawn two and a further two games have not had a result.
In total he’s played 90 times for the T20 team, so currently has a perfect record of half as captain and half as a player. The numbers work out at winning 65.11% of his games as T20 captain, a remarkable record and certainly one that the next captain would love to have.
Not only has Kohli managed to perform well as a captain, but he’s remained a top quality player, despite the additional pressures on him due to his role. Although age will begin to catch up with him, there is no doubt that without the captaincy to worry about, Kohli could find himself in an even better frame of mind, and able to score better.
If he does, then that will certainly be good news for the new captain who comes in, and bad news for the rest of international cricket.
A hugely important part of Indian cricket is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean we have seen the last of Virat Kohli, expect him to stick around for years to come.