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Virat Kohli ( Image Credit: Twitter)
Virat Kohli's decision to step down as India's Test captain took the world by storm. Moreover, he announced his decision just a day after India lost the three-match Test series to South Africa by 1-2 under his leadership. It is to be noted that the 33-year-old had earlier quit the T20I captaincy after the ICC T20 WC 2021, and was then axed as ODI skipper.
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Thus, Kohli is now no longer India's captain in either of the three formats. However, his decision to step down as India's captain in the longest format of the game was so unexpected that it managed to shock several Indian players as well. Shardul Thakur happened to be one of them.
While speaking to the Indian Express, he spoke about how no one saw it coming and how good Kohli was as a Test captain. Thakur also mentioned that several players got emotional after the batting maestro announced his decision.
The team was doing well under Virat Kohli: Shardul Thakur
“It was an emotional moment for everyone. No one expected that he would resign from Test captaincy. “We did well under his captaincy, especially overseas. Those series we lost overseas were close ones. The team was doing well under him and no one expected this. However, now that he has made his decision, everyone should respect it,” said Shardul Thakur.
It is to be noted that the bowling all-rounder has been superb for India in the recent past. Besides, he took 12 wickets in the Test series against the Proteas. Thus, he went on draw light on the series, and felt that luck didn't favour his side.
“In those two Tests, luck wasn’t on our side. There were many times when their batsman erdged, but the ball fell short or flew us. We later realised that edges will t carry, so our fielders came closer. We were unlucky many times. Once they were 150 for 3, and we bowled them out. Once you are chasing 200-plus, there is confidence in the dressing room that it is chaseable. But if the target is 300-plus in the fourth innings, pressure starts to build up. In those two Test matches, we lost as our bowling and fielding unit didn’t carry the luck with ourselves," he said.