Kohli will be more determined, focused to win the T20 World Cup, says childhood coach Rajkumar
Sep 16, 2021
New Delhi [India], September 16 : India skipper Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma feels the 32-year-old cricketer will be more "determined and focused" to win the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Kohli on Thursday announced that he would step down as the T20I skipper of the national side after the T20 World Cup slated to be played in the UAE in October-November this year.
Rajkumar said the new skipper will bring new ideas and Kohli will help him just like MS Dhoni used to assist the India captain.
"New captain will bring new ideas and new strategies, so it will interesting to see who is named as the skipper. Just like what Dhoni did, Virat too will like to play the same role and help the new captain," Rajkumar told ANI.
"He will be more determined and focused to win the T20 World Cup as he will want to leave India's T20I captaincy on a high.
"It is a thoughtful decision, he had discussed with me also about this. Captaining in three formats does put a player under pressure and hence he decided to step down from T20I captaincy," said Rajkumar
Rajkumar said he feels it's the right decision at the right time.
"We were discussing about it as it is a big issue, I was sure about it. Virat loves the Test format and he will want to lead India in the Test format for a longer period and ODI too hence he decided to step down from T20I captaincy to ease off the pressure," he said.
The India skipper said he arrived at his decision after discussing with head coach Ravi Shastri and opening batsman Rohit Sharma.
Kohli will continue to be available for selection for the T20 format post the upcoming ICC event in 2021, which is hosted by the BCCI in UAE and Oman.
Kohli has captained India in 45 T20Is with the side winning 27 out of those. India only lost 14 T20Is under Kohli captaincy while two games were tied and two matches had no results.
