IPL 2025: Virat Kohli reveals why he left India and RCB captaincy

Virat Kohli used to be the all-format captain of India as well as his IPL franchise RCB.

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is currently playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He is also a crucial batsman for Indian Cricket Team in tests and ODIs. He used to be all-format captain of India as well as his IPL franchise RCB until a few years back.

Kohli captained Indian Cricket Team for more than six years and was the successor of legendary captain MS Dhoni. However, he left the Team India’s captaincy in T20Is after ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Later, he was removed as ODI captain and then left test captaincy in January 2022. Following Kohli’s decision to step down as India captain, Rohit Sharma was then named as all-format captain.

Interestingly, Kohli also stepped down as RCB captain after the end of IPL 2021. Faf du Plessis replaced him as captain of the side before the 2022 season. Kohli led RCB from IPL 2013 to 2021. In the ongoing IPL 2025, Rajat Patidar is captain of RCB. However, Kohli is still part of the leadership group of the side.

It did get very tough on me: Virat Kohli

During a podcast on the show ‘RCB Bold Diaries,’ the Indian batting legend shed lights on why he stepped down as India and RCB’s skipper. Kohli revealed that it became tough for him to excel in both roles due to the high expectations from everyone. Also, he wanted to get rid of the constant attention on him.

“At one point, it did become tough for me because there was just too much happening in my career. I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years. I captained RCB for nine years. There were expectations from me from a batting perspective every game that I played,” the right-handed batter said.

“I didn’t have this sense that the attention was off me. If it wasn’t captaincy, it would be batting. I was exposed to it 24X7. It did get very tough on me, and it did get too much in the end. That’s why I stepped down because I felt like if I’ve decided I wanted to be in this place, I need to be happy,” he added.

Kohli also highlighted that he decided to step down as skipper to have more space in his life and play without being judged.

“I need to have a space in my life where I can just come and play my cricket without being judged, without being looked at as what are you going to do this season and what’s going to happen now,” the RCB opener further added.

Notably, Kohli has broken many records as a batsman, however, he could not grab any ICC titles for Indian Cricket Team under his captaincy. He also could not drive RCB to IPL titles under his leadership. RCB are yet to win any IPL title. However, his successor Rohit Sharma led India to two ICC titles in last one year.

India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 last year and ICC Champions Trophy 2025 earlier this year. However, Kohli played a key role as a batsman in both of these tournaments. He left the shortest format after T20I World Cup triumph last year.

He is currently busy with IPL 2025. With 505 runs in 11 games, Kohli owns the Orange Cap in the tournament and is also the leading run-getter for his side. He has slammed seven half-centuries across 11 innings.

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