A day after India’s 2-1 Test series loss against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town, captain Virat Kohli left the cricketing fraternity stunned, announcing his decision to step down from Test captaincy. 

Kohli issued a statement on the micro-blogging site Twitter to convey his message to the cricket world. 

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Earlier, Kohli stepped down as T20I captain of India after the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November and later BCCI removed him as the team’s ODI captain. Rohit Sharma has been appointed India’s white-ball captain. 

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There has been high decibel drama in Indian cricket between Kohli and the Indian cricket board, BCCI, since India made a group stage exit from the T20 World Cup. 

India lost to Pakistan for the first time at an ICC event and then suffered a defeat against New Zealand which brought the curtain down on their campaign at the World Cup.

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Kohli was immediately removed from the white-ball captaincy. In September, weeks before the T20 World Cup, Kohli announced that he would step down as a T20I skipper to focus on ODI and Tests. 

However, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly claimed that Kohli was asked not to step down before the World Cup. Kohli countered the claim which led to a fracas between him and the board. 

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Now, his decision to give up Test captaincy is much of a repercussion to the drama that unfolded in India before India’s departure for the South Africa series. Kohli will now play in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, starting January 19 at Cape Town.

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KL Rahul, who led India in the Johannesburg Test in Kohli’s absence, will lead the team in the ODIs as Rohit Sharma has still been recovering from injury at NCA, Bengaluru.

Now it has to be seen who will be India’s next captain. India will next play a Test series at home in February-March.