New Delhi: Four years ago he suddenly gave up leadership in the Test format. Indian cricket lovers were a bit surprised to see this. Four years later IPLKing Kohli is in great form for RCB. This time, Kohli himself revealed the reason for leaving the captaincy of his Test format. Speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab on Tuesday, Virat revealed how the right-handed star batsman mentioned mental and physical fatigue.

In the beginning of 2022, the Indian cricket team lost the series against South Africa. After that, Virat stepped down from the captaincy. Virat is the country’s most successful captain in the Test format so far. Virat said today, ‘I had reached a point at that time, where I became the focal point of our batting unit and also the focal point of leadership. To be honest, I didn’t realize how much stress these two responsibilities would create in my daily life. But I didn’t bother much about them then. I wanted Indian cricket to be at the top. I did not pay any attention. And that’s why I was completely exhausted when I left the captaincy. There was nothing left in me. I had that at a very difficult time.’

Indian teamVirat Kohli got Ravi Shastri as his coach during his captaincy. But the pair of the two have given many memorable victories in Indian cricket. India won the Test series on Australian soil for the first time in the 2018-19 season under the supervision of the Ravi-Virat pair.

There was a hint of arrogance in Virat’s words. He said, ‘The team leads you because they think people trust you and you can take more pressure. You are given leadership because people believe you can take more pressure and handle everything. In many ways leadership is more about management than coaching. It’s about understanding the people playing with you and for you, figuring out how to bring out the best in them. To do that you always have to be in a state of mind where you don’t focus on yourself. Someone will ask you, are you okay? That thought doesn’t even come to mind. But towards the end of the captaincy I look back and realize that for almost nine years nobody really asked me the question ‘How are you?’