Virat Kohli quits as captain whenever it is under threat: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has said that Virat Kohli tends to quit as captain when he feels it is under threat. Kohli stepped down as India's Test captain on Saturday (January 15). He had previously relinquished the leadership role from T20Is and was later removed as ODI captain, handing over the reins to Rohit Sharma in the white-ball formats.

From this year, he will no longer lead his Indian Premier League (IPL) side Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as well. Despite being favourites to win the Test series against South Africa, India, who went 1-0 up after an emphatic win at Centurion, went on to lose the series 1-2.

“It’s come one after the other in a very short span of time - giving up the white-ball captaincy and IPL captaincy as well. This also was unexpected, but it is interesting that all these three resignations of important positions have come so quickly one after the other,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo. 

“I think, in some way, he wants to make himself unsackable as captain. When he gets that vibe that his captaincy is under threat, he tends to quit,” he added.

Kohli is India's most successful captain having won 40 out of 68 matches in charge.