Not attached to anything, leaving captaincy very unselfish thing, says Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli had first made the surprise announcement of stepping down from India's T20I captancy after the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021 and later, after three days, declared that ongoing IPL 2021 will be his last as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain. 

While talking to Star Sports, Virat Kohli reiterated that workload management was one of the main reasons, but also went a step further to explain what actually was going through his mind before he made his big decision official. 

"I had to manage my workload at some stage, it wouldn't have been possible for me to keep going on through the year captaining every Indian team in all three formats and the IPL.

"As a batsman, you have to make sure you are contributing in the best way possible for your team. I am not the kind of person who holds onto a thing and sit, I don't have attachment with anything and that clarity has always been there in my mind," Kohli said.

Further, Virat Kohli asserted that he did not want to compromise with his commitment towards the team. 

"I didn't want to be operating at 80% and be miserable in a team environment where I can't contribute my whole energy to the group very organically. I didn't want to have a structure around me where I felt like I'm not able to be like myself on the field because my job is to make sure I'm in the best frame of mind to contribute for my team.

"And that is a very unselfish thing to do because what you actually want to do is provide the best out there for your team. And potentially have another guy (as captain) who has a fresh energy and fresh set of ideas to still carry that culture forward and you still continue to be the leader by motivating the youngsters," Kohli said.

Till date, Virat Kohli has captained India in 45 T20Is, winning 27 of them. The Delhi-born took over RCB's captaincy in 2013, and is yet to lay his hand on the IPL trophy.