Lack of runs, the reason for Virat Kohli quitting as T20 captain?

Just eight days ago Virat Kohli was on a video conference call from Manchester with the national selectors to pick the team for the T20 World Cupmdashhis maiden ICC event assignment in the shortest formatOn Thursday Kohli decided to step down as T20 captain after the World Cup in UAE and Oman The path is now clear for Rohit Sharma who has led Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles to take over the T20 captaincy The decision comes after BCCI decided to rope in 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cupwinning captain MS Dhoni as team mentor for the forthcoming T20 World CupFormer chairman of selectors MSK Prasad during whose tenure Kohli was handed over the reins after Dhoni stepped down as limitedovers captain in 2017 felt Kohli would have thought of giving up the T20 captaincy to regain his touch as a batsmanMSK PrasadldquoIt is more to do with this personal feelings It has nothing to do with pressure from any corner One reason could be stress the other form He definitely doesnrsquot want to lose the Virat Kohli we all know So probably he feels he is not performing up to the standards he has set He is the sort of player who always wants to raise the bar raise the standardsldquoWith every passing year in the last decade he has set very high standards We all know what kind of a player Virat is And in the last oneandahalfyear this same Virat has been missing out on all those centuries So it must be definitely making an impact on his mind Thatrsquos the only reason I see that he would want to focus on his batting and his contribution to the team with the batrdquo Prasad told midday on ThursdayKohli is going through a tough phase as a batsman in Test cricket averaging just 2680 in the last 12 Tests Doing well in the longest format is what Kohli craves for Overall too Kohli has been without a century in 53 innings across all formats Stress and the skipperPrasad felt Kohli could have delayed the announcement till the T20 World Cup was over ldquoThis decision should have been announced after the T20 World Cup I think he wants to unburden himself This stress is created due to playing in the biosecure bubble the travel and being awayso itrsquos a culmination of all those factors which would have put so much of stress on his mind More importantly the kind of high standards that he has set for himself So all these things would have played a role in his decisionrdquo said the former India stumperOnly a couple of days ago BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal had rubbished a report of Kohli set to step down as limitedovers captain The decision left him stumped ldquoIt is definitely surprising But like he Kohli said it was on his mind and he had discussed with the team management Every batsman goes through such phases in their career so it is not something new Also the COVID19 situation has taken a toll on everyone We respect his decision and are grateful for his contribution as T20 skipperrdquo Dhumal told middayKapil not surprisedMeanwhile Indiarsquos 1983 World Cupwinning captain Kapil Dev said he was not surprised at all by Kohlirsquos decisionKapil wanted no questions directed at Kohli as to why he decided to step down ldquoHe has been leading the Indian team for a good number of years He must have thought a lot before taking such an important decision He is the best judge in this regardrdquo said Kapil stressing that even Dhoni quit the captaincy in a quiet fashion ldquoThey are adults and we should respect those decisionsrdquo added KapilVirat Kohlirsquos statementUnderstanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 89 years playing all three formats and captaining regularly for last 56 years I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricketOf course arriving at this decision took a lot of time After a lot of contemplation and discussions with my close people Ravi bhai and also Rohit who have been an essential part of the leadership group Irsquove decided to step down as the T20 captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October I will continue to serve Indian cricket and Indian cricket team to the best of my abilityAlso Read IPL 2021 Top 5 bowling performances so far45No of T20Is Virat Kohli has led India in