‘Shocked’ Rohit Sharma reacts to Kohli’s surprise decision to resign as India Test captain
Virat Kohli's sudden and unexpected announcement on Saturday has left the cricketing fraternity well and truly shocked. After taking India to unimaginable heights, the 33-year-old decided to call quits on his Test captaincy and not even Rohit Sharma could help but express his emotions on social media.
Early on Sunday morning, India's white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma took to Instagram to share a picture of them batting together in the whites and captioned it as: "Shocked!! But congratulations on a successful stint as Indian captain. @virat. kohli."
Rohit Sharma had earlier replaced Kohli as the limited-overs skipper and ahead of the recently-concluded South Africa tour, the former was named the vice-captain of the Test team. Unfortunately, Rohit and Kohli could not feature together as Rohit was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. This means that the last time Rohit played a Test under Kohli, the captain, was in August 2021 against England.
Meanwhile, Kohli will be mighty proud of what he achieved in his 7-year stint as the leader in the longest format. As someone who is a massive lover of the format, Kohli not only smashed batting records but also took India to greater heights.
ALSO READ| Virat Kohli captaincy: A look at unique batting records held by former India Test skipper
In the 68 matches he captained, India won 40 of those and lost just 17 matches. Under him, India won their first-ever series Down Under when they defeated Australia 2-1 in the 2018-19 Border Gavaskar Trophy.
In addition, he guided the side to the verge of clinching the Test series in England in 2021. They currently lead 2-1 with the final game scheduled for June later this year.
With the bat in hand, Kohli finished as the highest run-getter as Indian captain; he amassed 5864 runs at an average of 54.80. The feat included 20 centuries and 18 half-centuries.