Virat Kohli reveals the actual reason for quitting Royal Challengers Bangalore captaincy

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Dubai, October 12: Virat Kohli had announced his decision to step down from the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore well ahead of the IPL 2021. It was seen as a natural step because of his inability to guide the RCB to an IPL title in eight seasons and Kohli now revealed the actual reason of him arriving at the call.

Kohli zeroed in on the fact that he was not able to give his 100 per cent in the dual role as captain and batsman, and that was putting him in a miserable place. Kohli's journey as RCB skipper ended when they suffered a four-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Eliminator.

"There's one thing saying that when you're offered captaincy you don't want to take it because you want to look after your game. There's another thing saying that you've actually done it, proven yourself for 7-8 years and now it makes complete sense to step down.

''As I said, I didn't want to be operating at 80 per cent and be miserable in a team environment where I can't contribute my whole energy to the group very organically and honestly, and that's who I've always been.

''I didn't want to have a structure around me where I felt like I'm not able to be myself on the field because my job is firstly as a player to make sure I'm in the best frame of mind possible to be able to contribute to the team.

''Like AB said, it's not a selfish thing to do. Because what you actually want to do is to provide your best self out there for the team and potentially have another guy who has fresh energy, fresh set of ideas to carry that culture forward and you'll still continue to be the leader within the group like motivating the youngsters, doing the right thing for the team," he added.

Further talking about on the same topic, Virat said: "What is perceived on the outside and what the reality is two different things. Beyond a point you don't even want to think about what people are making out of your decisions because they have no idea what you're experiencing."

AB supports Kohli

Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman AB de Villiers said Kohli's decision to leave captaincy of the franchise is not selfish, rather it is exactly the opposite.

"I've been in the same boat before and I can relate to what he (Kohli) is feeling and what he's been through. So, there's a mis-perception in my opinion when it comes to the public when they see people stepping down out of certain roles to let a bit of that workload go.

''Where they see it as being selfish, it is exactly the opposite. It is not being selfish. Because of him doing that (stepping down from captaincy) he can be a better version of himself," said De Villiers in a video posted on official YouTube channel of RCB.

"There can be a captain coming in with that same kind of energy that he's had for the last 7-8 years. I was in the same position, took quite a lot of criticism for letting some things go, where I felt I was actually doing the right thing for the team and not being selfish in the same process.

''Sometimes it can be a bit misleading and people see it as 'oh, he is now thinking about himself, he is protecting himself'. It is exactly the opposite actually," he added.