Inside Story

Virat Kohli refused to play farewell Test as captain for Team India

Written by Shreyas Vyas

Virat Kohli relinquished Test captaincy after Team India’s shocking series defeat at the hands of Dean Elgar-led South Africa in the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship.

Kohli, who is India’s most successful captain in the longest format, had opted to resign from the captaincy duty after the visitors suffered a 2-1 series defeat in their ongoing tour of South Africa.

Now, it has learned that Kohli was offered a farewell match by a Board of Control for Cricket in India official before the Indian skipper officially stepped down from the captaincy duty. Kohli announced his departure as the Test captain of the Indian team by sharing a lengthy post on social media last week. As per the report, the BCCI official offered Kohli a farewell match along with a gala in Bengaluru during his telephonic conversation. One match makes no difference. That’s not how I am,” Kohli is reportedly known to have said in his reply. The 33-year-old will play his 100th Test match for Team India in Bengaluru.

From BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to board secretary Jay Shah, Kohli was hailed by the entire cricket fraternity after the batting icon ended his seven-year reign as Team India’s most successful Test captain on Saturday. Team India won 40 out of 68 Tests under the leadership of former skipper Kohli. Former skipper Kohli is the only Test player to score 5,000 runs and record a 52-plus batting average as captain in red-ball cricket.

 

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Shreyas Vyas