‘If you win, they ask for runs’: Virat Kohli reveals ‘terrible’ reason for quitting India captaincy

India great Virat Kohli has opened up about the mental and physical toll of leading the national side, saying he was “completely exhausted” when he stepped down from leadership roles between 2021 and 2022.Kohli, who remains India’s most successful Test captain with 40 wins in 68 matches, has led the side to major overseas Test victories and regular knockout battles in ICC white-ball tournaments, including the 2017 Champions Trophy final and the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-finals.However, the former India captain said the demands of being the batting prop as well as the captain eventually drained him.“I ended up in a place where I became the focal point of our batting unit. And then I became the focal point of the management. I honestly didn’t realize the strain both of those things would put on my day-to-day life. But because I was so driven and motivated to make sure that Indian cricket stayed up, I wasn’t really paying attention. And I didn’t have anything left exactly why I didn’t have any time left in the tank. And I totally was engulfed, so yes, it was terrible,” Kohli said.Kohli also spoke about the constant pressure of balancing personal form with team results during his captaincy.“It was difficult to manage the expectations, well, if you win, you won’t score runs, then they will ask you about your performances. And if you perform and don’t win, they will ask you about the results. So I have always juggled between the two and tried to manage it as best as I could,” Kohli said at the third annual RCB Innovation Lab India Sports Summit on Tuesday.The 37-year-old also credited former India head coach Rahul Dravid and former batting coach Vikram Rathour for helping him during the difficult phase of Test cricket.After dominating Test cricket between 2016 and 2019, Kohli endured a lean run in 2021 and 2022, averaging 28.21 and 26.5 respectively. He returned in 2023 with 671 runs in eight Tests at an average of 55.91.“Rahul bhai and Vikram Rathour. I’ve said it many times. I had a great run in Test Cricket in 2023. Whenever I see them, whenever I meet them, I always thank them from the bottom of my heart. Because they really took care of me in a way that made me feel… ‘I want to play for them. I want to perform. I want to go for it. I want to go. Because they were so caring and caring. And they made me realize what I’ve done so far, even though today I’ll go to the nets, I feel like these young guys are looking at the next session, they’re going to be like… ‘This is a guy who’s been playing for 20 years by his own standards’.Kohli added that both Dravid and Rathour understood the mental side of elite cricket and supported him during this period.“So they understood. Because Rahul bhai has obviously done it better than a lot of people in Test Cricket at the highest level. Vikram Rathour has been here for so many years. So they understood what I felt. And they could relate to it. And they really took care of me mentally,” he said.