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Kohli confirms he will quit as T20 captain after World Cup

Kohli will, however, continue to lead Team India in the 50-over and Test formats

kohli-ind-aus-3odi-ap India's Virat Kohli bats against Australia during ODI match at Manuka Oval in Canberra | AP

Virat Kohli announced today that he will step down as the T20 captain after the T20 World Cup in Dubai in October. He will, however, continue to lead Team India in the 50-over and Test formats.

"Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all three formats and captaining regularly for last five to six years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead Indian team in Test and ODI cricket," Kohli said in a statement on his Twitter page.

"I have given my everything to the Team during my time as T20 captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 captain and will continue to do so for the T20 team as a batsman moving forward," he further added.

The decision, Kohli said, was taken after consulting head coach Ravi Shastri, Rohit Sharma, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah.

It was reported a few days ago that Kohli will be relinquishing the T20 and ODI captaincy after the T20 World Cup, and Sharma will be taking over from him. Interestingly, BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal had dismissed these reports, saying that the Board has not discussed anything on the matter and that he will continue to captain the team in all formats.

It would be the third time Indian cricket would be implementing split captaincy. In 2007, Anil Kumble was captain of the Test team, while M.S. Dhoni led the ODI and T20I sides. In 2015, Kohli was made captain of the Test side after Dhoni retired from the format. Dhoni continued to be captain of the ODI and T20I sides until 2017.

Kohli has captained India in 45 T20 Internationals (T20Is) and 95 ODIs, winning 27 in the shortest format and 65 in ODIs.

The report on 'split captaincy' comes at a time when BCCI's decision to appoint former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as Team India mentor for the T20 World Cup, has raised several eyebrows. After the 2013 Champions Trophy win, India have lost in the knockout stages in five ICC white-ball tournaments.

The T20 World Cup begins on October 17 in the United Arab Emirates and Oman and will go on till November 14. India will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24.

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