NEW DELHI — Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has claimed there are certain lobbies in Indian cricket which forced Virat Kohli to step down as team India captain from all formats in a span of few months.
Ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli had announced that he would be stepping down as the skipper of the T20 team, then a few months later, BCCI named Rohit Sharma the ODI captain removing Virat Kohli.
Earlier this month, after the completion of the Test series against South Africa, Kohli stepped down as the Test skipper, saying “Every thing has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test Captain of India, it’s now.”
Now, Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that it was a ‘tight’ scenario for Kohli during the T20 World Cup last year and added that there are lobbies against the fiery character as well.
“It was a tight scenario for Virat. I was in Dubai and I was aware that if he wouldn’t have won the T20 World Cup, it would have become a big problem for him and it did happen. There are lobbies against him and there are people against him and that is the reason why he stepped down,” said Akhtar in a chat with India Today.
“Now that he is off the hook, he just has to make sure that he enjoys his cricket. He is great and he should know that. He just has to enhance his value. He should know that he can’t be imprisoned of his own bitterness. He should forget and forgive people,” Akhtar added.
Meanwhile, Akhtar has opined that Kohli should enjoy his cricket more with less load on his shoulder and anybody in the game who enjoys a ‘star’ status is bound to face problems.
The former Pakistan cricketer even said that Kohli can add 50 more centuries starting now.
“His next 50 centuries will be because of the anger that he has now. And, this anger does not have to be reflected on people but in his batting,” Akhtar added.