‘I was completely spent’: Virat Kohli opens up on why he stepped down as India’s Test captain in 2022

More than four years after stepping down as India’s Test captain, Virat Kohli has opened up about the emotional and mental toll leadership took on him, saying he was “completely spent” by the time he decided to walk away from the role.

Kohli resigned as Test captain on January 15, 2022, a day after India’s 1-2 series defeat in South Africa. The move came months after he had stepped down from T20I captaincy and was removed as India’s ODI skipper, ending a seven-year run in charge of the Test side. During his tenure, Kohli led India to 40 victories in 68 matches, making him the country’s most successful Test captain.

Reflecting on that phase during the RCB Innovation Lab on Tuesday, Kohli said the combined burden of leading the team and carrying responsibility as the batting unit’s central figure gradually drained him.

“I ended up being in a place where I became the focal point of our batting unit and the focal point of leadership,” Kohli said. “I didn’t realise how much load both those things would present in my daily life. By the time I left captaincy, I was completely spent. There was nothing left in the tank. I was completely consumed by it. It was gruesome.”

Kohli first captained India in Tests during the Adelaide Test against Australia in 2014 after MS Dhoni was sidelined due to injury. Although India narrowly missed victory, Kohli announced himself as a leader with twin centuries. His first full series as captain came in Sri Lanka in 2015, where India secured its first Test series win there since 1993.

Under the Kohli-Ravi Shastri partnership, India dominated Test cricket, winning the ICC Test mace for five straight years and achieving a landmark series win in Australia during the 2018–19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Despite the successes, Kohli said the responsibilities of leadership gradually distanced him from his own wellbeing.

“The reason you’re given a leadership role is because people believe you can take on more and still manage it,” he said. “Leadership is more about understanding the people playing with you and figuring out how to get the best out of them. To do that, you constantly have to be in a space where you’re not focused on yourself.”

Looking back on his years in charge, Kohli said one realization stood out.

“Towards the end of my captaincy tenure, I looked back and realised that no one had really asked me for almost nine years — ‘How are you doing?’”