Virat Kohli's decision to resign as India's Test captain in the first half of 2022 is the most difficult to stomach among all his 'let go' choices in the past four years. After the renowned cricketer went through a protracted lean period, which coincided with India's subpar performance in their previous two Test series against New Zealand (at home) and Australia (on the road), some may claim that his Test retirement news last month was more significant. The true shocker came when Kohli resigned as India's Test captain following the 1-2 loss in South Africa. This was in response to Kohli's choice to declare that he would step down as India's T20I captain following the World Cup, which was just a month prior to the start of the tournament, just because of India's superiority in red-ball cricket under Kohli. There was always the impression that there was something left undone.

The rumors were fueled by Kohli's intention to reclaim the position of India's Test captain following a lackluster performance in Australia at the beginning of the year. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri now nearly said that Kohli wanted to reclaim the red-ball captaincy, even going so far as to say that he would have given Kohli the opportunity to lead again if it were in his power.

The selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, did engage in conversation after Kohli stated his wish to serve as a stop-gap captain, according to several sources. However, they chose against it since they wanted to name a permanent captain, therefore they named Shubman Gill to the position.

In a video posted on social media by SonyLiv, Shastri stated, "If I had anything to do with it, I would have made him captain, straightaway after Australia."

Last month, Kohli ended his Test career after playing 123 games and scoring 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85, with 30 hundreds.

Just days prior to the announcement of the Indian team for the five-Test series against England, Kohli made his choice.

"Virat has declared his retirement from Test matches, which is unfortunate because he's such a fantastic player." A fantastic player. People only really understand how big a player you were when you leave. It's more about how he conducted himself, especially in his role as an ambassador for test match cricket, particularly internationally, than about the statistics. His performance at Lord's, and the manner in which his club changed course — it was incredible. I'm glad I was a part of it as well, Shastri stated.

“I feel sad that he's gone the way he has — suddenly. I think it could have been handled better, maybe with more communication,” he added.

During India's tour of Australia earlier this year, there were reports about a cricketer trying to be ‘Mr Fix-it’ after India lost a couple of Test matches despite winning the first Test. Didn't name any cricketer but added that it was a senior member of the team who posed as an interim captain, trying to bring the team back on track. This was after Rohit Sharma had decided to drop himself from the playing XI for the last Test.

Read Also: KL Rahul Dominates as England Faces ‘60 Overs of Despair’: The Best of India in England, Part 4

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