IPL 2021: Virat Kohli reveals reasons behind stepping down as India's T20I, RCB's captain

Virat Kohli has revealed that he wanted to manage his workload in international cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL) and which is why he decided to step down as captain from the shorter formats this year.

IPL 2021 is Kohli's final season as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and he is also set to quit as India's Twenty20 International (T20I) skipper after the upcoming T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and Oman later this month.

Kohli succeed Daniel Vettori as RCB's captain in 2013 and has been India's skipper across formats since 2017. The 34-year-old has neither won the IPL nor the T20 World Cup yet.

"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 didn't want to compromise on the enjoyment of the game also," Kohli said on Star Sports.

Kohli also added that he didn't want to be in a situation where he couldn't give 100 per cent on the field because of the multiple responsibilities as the captain.

"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 to 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 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," added the RCB skipper, who is yet to win the IPL title.

Kohli-led RCB are currently playing Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator in Sharjah in the IPL 2021. The winner of the match will take on Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 2 on Wednesday (Oct. 13).