New Delhi: Former India pace bowler Ajit Agarkar feels that Virat Kohli will continue to play with the same energy and enthusiasm despite deciding to step down from T20 captaincy after the T20 World Cup and the IPL 2021 season.
“I think one of the things we’ve seen throughout his career, even when he wasn’t the captain and when he played under MS Dhoni quite a bit, the energy and the passion still seemed the same. I can’t imagine it changing just because he’s not the captain and just being one of the guys,” Agarkar said on Star Sports after RCB’s nine-wicket loss to KKR on Monday night.
Kohli recently decided to step down as India’s T20 skipper after the ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai and Oman in October-November and also said he was relinquishing his RCB captaincy after the 2021 IPL season.
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Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel said Kolhi must be feeling relieved after relinquishing the RCB captaincy given the workload coupled with prolonged stays in bio-bubbles.
“I think he looked more emotional than happy. I think when you’re playing for one franchise for so many years, you get that emotional connect which was there in RCB. I think RCB actually invested in Virat Kohli’s talent in 2008 and then showed a lot of trust in him as well because if you look at his and RCB’s journey, it has been a rollercoaster one.
“But yeah, he might be relieved because see moving around from one bubble to another can take a load on you and he has spoken about the workload and intensity, which he plays with. I think every practice session, every match session or gym session, he does it with full intensity and that’s something I’m sure he must’ve thought about.”