IPL 2022: Virat Kohli clarifies why he quit captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Superstar cricketer Virat Kohli has opened up on quitting Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captaincy at the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season. Kohli said it was a straightforward decision for him as he wanted some time to manage his workload.

Notably, Kohli had announced his decision to leave IPL captaincy after stating that the 2021 T20 World Cup will be his last tournament as India skipper in the shortest format. He was later removed as ODI captain before he withdrew from the leadership role in Test cricket.

Kohli asserted it’s very difficult for people from the outside to understand the decisions taken by cricketers, rubbishing any speculation surrounding his decision.

“I’m not someone who holds onto things more than I should. Even if I know I can do a lot more, if I’m not going to enjoy the process, I’m not going to do it. Because it’s very difficult for people to understand your decisions unless they are in your situation,” said Kohli on ‘The RCB Podcast’.

“From the outside, people have their own expectations. ‘Oh! How did that happen? We are so shocked’. There’s nothing to be shocked about. I explain to people I wanted some space, and I wanted to manage my workload, and the story ends there,” he added.

Right from the inaugural IPL till last season, RCB have never won the cash-rich tournament. Rubbising all the conversations that people had about his decision, Kohli cleared the air saying, “There was actually nothing at all. I keep my life very simple and basic, when I wanted to make a decision, I made a decision and I announced it. I didn’t want to think about it and contemplate it for another year. That would’ve done nothing to me, nothing to the environment I’m part of. Quality of life is something very important to me. And the quality of cricket is something very important to me.

“Over a period of time, you want to do what you’re doing day-in-and-day-out and you want to do as much as you can, but at the end of the day, you have to realize that quality is far more important than quantity,” stressed Kohli.

Kohli said he likes to keep things simple, therefore, he didn’t think twice when the Delhi-lad decided to drop the captain’s armband.

“There was actually nothing at all. I keep my life very simple and basic, when I wanted to make a decision, I made a decision, and I announced it. I didn’t want to think about it and contemplate it for another year. That would’ve done nothing to me, nothing to the environment I’m part of. Quality of life is something very important to me. And the quality of cricket is something very important to me,” Kohli explained.