Dale Steyn decodes Virat Kohli's decision to quit Test captaincy

Virat Kohli recently stepped down as India's Test captain. His decision to quit as India's skipper in the longest format of the game took the world by surprise. Moreover, it came just a day after the Asian side lost the three-match Test series to South Africa by 1-2.

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However, Dale Steyn supported Kohli's decision. While speaking to Star Sports, he cited the fact that the batting maestro has a family, and has to look after them as well. He also felt that the bio-bubble fatigue might have influenced the batter's decision as well

“He has got a young family right now, captaincy if you’re a single man being a professional sportsman, it’s almost like a selfish thing, we all have to focus on ourselves to be able to get the best out of us and provide the best for the country. But the moment a young family comes in, some other things don’t matter much," said Dale Steyn.

“I suppose bubble life can make it really difficult. You take on so much responsibility as a captain, then you have got your family and you’re travelling, it really does boil down to family at the end of the day. I personally think so," he added.

The legendary pacer also felt that Kohli can now focus more on his batting. He felt that the batter relinquishing captaincy will do more good than harm to Kohli. “Now I think, Virat Kohli has relinquished captaincy, he can focus on his family and then just focus on his batting. You might even see a better Virat Kohli now. For the bulk of his career, he was a single man, he was captain, he didn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff but now there are so many new things that have come up in the game," he said.

It is to be noted that the 33-year-old had earlier quit the T20I captaincy as well. Later, the BCCI decided to axe him as the ODI skipper, and made Rohit Sharma the new Indian captain in the 50-over format. Thus, Kohli will no longer captain India in any format of the game.