Why Kapil Dev said that 'Virat Kohli will have to give up his ego' ?

Several cricketers have congratulated Virat Kohli since he announced his decision to step down from the Test captain position. He ended his reign as the most successful Test captain in Indian cricket history. Former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev predicted the reason behind his decision and also gave some advice to the former captain.

Kapil mentioned that Kohli was feeling overburdened and by giving up Test captaincy he can now play freely. Notably, Kohli was India's all-format captain just a few months ago. He stepped down as India T20 captain after the 20-20 World Cup and was later removed as ODI captain as BCCI did not want split captaincy in limited-overs cricket. Kapil welcomed Virat Kohli's call to step down as Test skipper.

“I welcome Virat’s decision to quit the Test captaincy. He was going through a rough time ever since he gave up the T20 captaincy. He has looked tense in recent times, appearing to be under a lot of pressure. So giving up the captaincy was an option in order to play freely. He opted for that,” Kapil said as quoted by SportsTiger.

“He is a mature man. I am sure he must have thought hard before taking this important decision. Maybe, he wasn’t enjoying the captaincy. We have to support him and wish him luck,” he added.

Kohli will now play under a new skipper and Kapil feels there can be some ego clashes. The veteran all-rounder said that Kohli will have to step aside his ego and groom the new skipper, taking the team forward as India cannot afford to lose Kohli- the batter.

“Even Sunil Gavaskar played under me. I played under K Srikkanth and Azharuddin. I had no ego. Virat will have to give up his ego and play under a young cricketer. This will help him and Indian cricket. Virat should guide the new captain, new players. We cannot lose Virat, the batsman…no way,” concluded Kapil.