Virat Kohli stepping down from Test captaincy was an emotional moment for us: Shardul Thakur

Team India’s bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has said that he was shocked when he learned that Virat Kohli had relinquished the Test captaincy with immediate effect after the team’s Test series loss against South Africa last month. Despite drawing first blood in the series opener at Centurion, India went on to lose the next two games from a position of strength to concede the series.

Kohli, who had led India for seven years in the traditional format took them to unattained heights and the Men Blue were at the pinnacle of the ICC Test rankings for 42 months (October 2016-March 2020). Under the batting megastar, the Indian team also remained undefeated in all home Test series.

No one expected it, says Shardul Thakur

“It was an emotional moment for everyone. No one expected that he would resign from Test captaincy,” said Thakur while speaking to The Indian Express.

“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,” the Mumbai pacer added.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the current limited-overs skipper Rohit Sharma will be made Virat Kohli’s successor in the longest format which will make him India’s all-format captain. The Delhi cricketer had led the Indian team to their first-ever Test series triumph in Australia during the 2018/19 season and the Men In Blue are currently leading the five-match series in England 2-1 with the final Test scheduled to be played in July this year. As far as his captaincy in red-ball cricket is concerned, Virat Kohli has led India in 68 matches winning 40 of them which is a far better record than his predecessors Sourav Ganguly (21 wins from 49 matches), and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (27 wins from 60 games) respectively.

Both Kohli and Shardul Thakur will next be seen in action during the home white-ball series against the West Indies starting February 6. The three ODIs will be played at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on February 6,9, and, 11 respectively while the T20I series will be played on the 16,18, and, 19th at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.