Virat Kohli has signed off as India’s T20 captain with a consolation World Cup win, while admitting his side were not “brave enough” to progress.
The 33-year-old batsman has stepped aside as skipper, having held the position since taking over from MS Dhoni in 2017.
India bowed out of the World Cup with a 3-2 record, after losses to Pakistan and New Zealand left them off the pace.
Kohli’s side rounded out their tournament with a nine-wicket win over Namibia on Monday, but his tenure was all the talk after the game.
“As I said it’s been an honour, but things have to be kept in the right perspective,” Kohli said. “This was the right time for me to manage my workload.
“It’s been six-seven years of intense cricket every time we take the field and it takes a lot out of you. It’s been great fun, great bunch of guys and we’ve really performed well as a team.
“I know we have not gone far in this World Cup, but we have had some good results in T20 and enjoyed playing together.
“It’s a game of margins, T20 cricket. You talk about two overs of cricket with intent in the first two games and things could have been different.
“We were not brave enough as I said. We are not a team that will give the excuse of (coin) tosses.”
Kohli, who will remain India’s Test and ODI captain, was only able to lead his country at one T20 World Cup, with the last event played in 2016 with Dhoni’s team making the semi-finals.
India have only won one T20 World Cup, the first edition in 2007, qualifying for the knockouts three times out of seven.
Kohli has also led Royal Challengers Bangalore in recent years, although the side have not lifted the Indian Premier League crown during his time as captain, making the playoffs the past two seasons.
On his intensity, Kohli added: “That’s never going to change. If I can’t do that I will not play anymore. Even when I wasn’t captain before I was always keen to see where the game is going. I’m not going to stand around and do nothing.”
