Virat Kohli steps down as India’s Test captain

Virat Kohli has stepped down as captain of India's Test team, with immediate effect, only a day after losing the Test series to South Africa 2-1 with a seven-wicket loss in Cape Town.

Kohli took over as full-time Test captain in early 2015, when MS Dhoni had announced retirement in Australia, and has primarily held the role since then, reports ESPNCricinfo.

Kohli announced his decision in a long Tweet on Saturday, expressing his gratitude towards ECB and his teammates.

Kohli's sudden announcement comes on the back of a recent saga between him and the BCCI which started with his T20I resignation before the 2021 World Cup.

In early December, the BCCI then stripped Kohli off the ODI captaincy, naming Rohit Sharma the new white-ball leader.

A day later, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that he had asked Kohli not to step down as T20I captain, but Kohli soon contradicted Ganguly, saying his decision to step down was "received well", termed as "progressive" by the BCCI top brass, and that he "wasn't told to reconsider" his decision.

Kohli also expressed his disappointment in the same press conference, saying he had been told about his removal as ODI captain just one-and-a-half hours before the selection meeting to pick the Test squad for South Africa, and "there was no prior communication to me at all".

The controversy stretched further when chief selector Chetan Sharma - while announcing the ODI squad for the South Africa tour on December 31 - said "everyone who was present in the meeting asked him to reconsider" his decision when Kohli stepped down as T20I captain.