Virat Kohli shocked the world by deciding to step down as Team India’s Test captain on January 15. He made this decision after his team’s Test series loss to South Africa. After relinquishing Test captaincy, Kohli is no longer a captain in any format and would continue to play as a pure batter.
The ex South African pacer Dale Steyn has said that the former would now be able to focus more on his batting and family. As per Steyn, Kohli took this step because of bio-bubbles and to be there for his family.
Dale Steyn has said that one could get to see a better version of Virat Kohli as he no longer has captaincy burden.
“I suppose bubble life can make it really difficult. You take on so much responsibility as a captain, then you have got your family and you’re travelling, it really does boil down to family at the end of the day. I personally think so. Maybe these bio-bubbles and all had a role in it. I mean it really boils down to family for somebody like Virat. He’s got a young family right now,” Steyn told Star Sports on Wednesday.
“He has got a young family right now, captaincy if you’re a single man being a professional sportsman, it’s almost like a selfish thing, we all have to focus on ourselves to be able to get the best out of us and provide the best for the country. But the moment a young family comes in, some other things don’t matter much. Now I think, Virat Kohli has relinquished captaincy, he can focus on his family and then just focus on his batting. You might even see a better Virat Kohli now” Steyn added.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Bangar said on Wednesday that less burden on Virat Kohli will only help the former skipper become more dangerous as a batter. Bangar also highlighted that legendary cricketers in the past, including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, had given up captaincy and gone on to do well in the remaining phases of their careers.