Ricky Ponting makes shocking revelations on Virat Kohli stepping down as India captain

Virat Kohli no longer being the captain of the Indian Cricket Team in any format has raised many opinions recently. Former Australian cricketer, Ricky Ponting also has joined in the conversation. Ponting said he was "very, very surprised when Kohli stepped down as India Test skipper. Ponting recalled the conversation he had with Kohli and said that Kohli was passionate about leading India in Tests.

Virat stepped down as India's captain in the T20 format after the 20-20 World Cup. In a controversial move by BCCI, he was sacked as the ODI captaincy ahead of the series against South Africa. He then resigned as the Test captain after a 2-1 loss against South Africa.

Ponting said as quoted by India Today, "He was talking then about stepping away (from captaincy) from white-ball cricket and how passionate he was to continue on to be Test match captain. He just loved and cherished that job and that post so much. Obviously, the Indian Test team had achieved a lot under his leadership. When I heard it, I was really, really surprised."

As the former captain described the incident, he revealed that he was at first shocked by Kohli's decision but later understood that leading India is one of the most difficult task for a cricketer, given the amount of expectations that comes with the leadership. "I have gone on record and said that I probably think I played a couple of years longer than I should have in hindsight. I think I might have been captain for a couple of years longer than I should have. So I think there is potentially a shelf-life for international cricket captains and even coaches. Virat's been there for close to seven years now. If there's a country in the world that's the most difficult to captain, it's probably India because of just how popular the game is and how much every single Indian loves to see the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, whether they are good or bad. You weigh all those things up," he added.