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He wants to make himself unsackable as captain: Sanjay Manjrekar

BI Report || BusinessInsider

Published: 16:34, 16 January 2022  
He wants to make himself unsackable as captain: Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar and Virat Kohli. Photo: File

Virat Kohli stepped down as captain of India’s Test team on Saturday. Members of the cricketing fraternity are paying their tribute to Kohli, while some are attempting to understand the reason behind the out of the blue decision. The latest to join the discussion is former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar.

While speaking to ESPNCricinfo Manjrekar said that he was in shock to see him quitting the job in such a short span of time and maintained that this decision had to do with the latest Test series result. 

Under the captaincy of Kholi, India lost a three-match series 2-1 to hosts South Africa despite winning the first Test.

"It’s come one after the other in a very short span of time - giving up the white-ball captaincy and IPL captaincy as well. This also was unexpected, but it is interesting that all these three resignations of important positions have come so quickly one after the other.

“I think, in some way, he wants to make himself unsackable as captain. When he gets that vibe that his captaincy is under threat, he tends to quit," said Manjrekar.

He didn’t stop there. He mentioned, "The landscape is changing, the scenario around Virat Kohli that allowed him to be himself and flourish. Ravi Shastri coming in. He was uncomfortable when Anil Kumble was the coach and once Shastri and the support staff came in, he felt comfortable. The new coach (Rahul Dravid) is no Ravi Shastri. He would have got some inkling of the kind of support he was going to get.

"The regime change in the BCCI also has something to do with all these important announcements that Virat has made. Clearly, a guy who finds himself outside his comfort zone. Individually, his batting is not at its best. All that has just added up. He is not in a great space at the moment. These are all emotional decisions that one can understand."

Kohli was appointed Test captain in 2015 when MS Dhoni stepped down in the middle of the series against Australia. He finished his stint as the country's most successful Test captain, with 40 wins and just 17 losses after a whopping 68 games.

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