Virat Kohli will no longer lead India in any format. The 33-year-old quit as Test captain on Saturday. 

Kohli’s announcement came a day after India suffered an embarrassing Test series defeat against South Africa.

Also read: Virat Kohli’s winter of discontent: Events leading up to his resignation from Test captaincy

“Every thing has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test captain of India, it’s now,” Kohli wrote in a statement.

“There have been many ups and also some downs along the journey but there has never been lack of effort or lack of belief.” Interestingly, when Kohli had quit T20 captaincy, he had also posted his message on social media. “It’s been seven years of hard work, toil and relentless perseverance everyday to take the team in the right direction. I have done the job with absolute honesty and left nothing out there,” he wrote in his statement.

Kohli’s situation has been compared to India great Sachin Tendulkar’s. The God of cricket was removed from India’s ODI captaincy in 1997. He then led the Men in Blue in the ODIs from August 1996 to December 1997, before leading the team again in 1999.

Also read: Best of Test: Five remarkable matches played by India in 2021

Tendulkar was stripped of Test captaincy in 1997. “I hated losing and as captain of the team I felt responsible for the string of miserable performances. More worryingly, I did not know how I could turn it around, as I was already trying my absolute best,” Tendulkar wrote in his autobiography ‘Playing it my way’. 

Describing a tussle with the BCCI, similar to Kohli’s, Tendulkar wrote, “At the end of the series, I was unceremoniously sacked as skipper. No one from the BCCI managed to call me or inform me of my removal as captain before someone from the media called to say I was no longer captain.”

Former chief selector Chandu Borde recalled how after returning from a tour of Australia, Tendulkar told selectors he did not want to lead the team anymore as it was not helping his batting.

However, soon after being dropped as India captain Tendulkar scored 12 centuries in one year. And Kohli, desperately needs one.

Also read: Virat Kohli steps down as Test captain: A look at his captaincy record in Tests

As per former India coach (1996-1997) Madan Lal, Sachin Tendulkar was so self-involved that he failed to deliver as a captain. 

Kohli, too, has cited workload management issues. 

Kohli is the third most successful captain in history of Test cricket (who have led in at least 20 Tests) in terms of Test wins behind Steve Waugh (41 wins in 57 games) and Ricky Ponting (48 in 77 games).

He has 40 wins in 68 Tests in which he led India.