Kohli wants to make himself 'unsackable' as captain, says former Indian player

MUMBAI: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels Virat Kohli wanted to make himself "unsackable" as skipper and hence decided to step down as Team India's captain.

Kohli on Saturday stepped down as India's Test captain after leading the side for seven years.

Last year, Kohli had stepped down as the T20I captain and then he was removed as the ODI leader as the selectors wanted one captain for the white-ball format.

Manjrekar said it was interesting to note that Kohli's all three resignations came within a short span of time

"It's come one after the other in a very short span of time - giving up the white-ball captaincy and IPL captaincy as well. This also was unexpected, but it is interesting that all these three resignations of important positions have come so quickly one after the other," Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPNCricinfo

"I think, in some way, he wants to make himself unsackable as captain. When he gets that vibe that his captaincy is under threat, he tends to quit," he added.

Kohli has been the most successful Test captain India has ever produced. After taking over the reins from MS Dhoni, he has led India in 68 Test matches and secured 40 wins at a win percentage of 58.82.

As Test captain, he registered his first series win against Sri Lanka in 2015, a victory that India registered in the Emerald Island after 22 years.

Under his leadership, Team India also scripted history as they registered their first Test series win in Australia in 2018, clinched series in the West Indies, attained the No.1 spot in Test rankings and later in the subsequent years marched into the maiden ICC World Test Championship Final in 2021.

Kohli also holds the impeccable record of winning 24 out of the 31 Tests played at home as captain, having lost only two Tests.