Virat Kohli can focus more on batting and family, says Dale Steyn

Former South Africa pace bowler Dale Steyn has backed former India captain Virat Kohli to do well with the bat once again. He stated that quitting captaincy will certainly relieve him from pressure across all formats of the game. Notably, Kohli has recently stepped down from the Test captaincy as well after Team India lost the Test series 1-2 against South Africa.

However, Virat Kohli has been playing as a non-captain for the first time in more than 5 years on Wednesday in India’s first ODI against South Africa under KL Rahul’s captaincy in Paarl. Notably, Kohli quit the T20 captaincy last year whereas he was sacked from the ODI captaincy prior to the South Africa series.

“I suppose bubble life can make it really difficult. You take on so much responsibility as a captain, then you have got your family and you’re travelling, it really does boil down to family at the end of the day. I personally think so,” Dale Steyn told Star Sports on Wednesday.

READ MORE: Former India captain picks Rohit Sharma as India’s next Test captain

“He has got a young family right now, captaincy if you’re a single man being a professional sportsman, it’s almost like a selfish thing, we all have to focus on ourselves to be able to get the best out of us and provide the best for the country. But the moment a young family comes in, some other things don’t matter much,” he further added.

“Now I think, Virat Kohli has relinquished captaincy, he can focus on his family and then just focus on his batting. You might even see a better Virat Kohli now. For the bulk of his career, he was a single man, he was captain, he didn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff but now there are so many new things that have come up in the game. I do think this will free him up and we’ll probably see he hasn’t scored an international hundred in 2 years. Maybe today could be the day as his first game as a non-captain,” Steyn again shared.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has celebrated the first birthday of his daughter Vamika earlier this month. While it was widely speculated that Kohli will not take part in the ongoing 3-match ODI series, he quashed all rumours and confirmed his availability for the series as well.

“He was doing the bulk of the responsibility for that long period” – Dale Steyn on Virat Kohli

Meanwhile, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has said on Wednesday that less pressure on Virat Kohli will only help Kohli become more dangerous as a batsman. Bangar also added that veteran cricketers in the past, including Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, had given up captaincy and did well in the rest of the phases of their careers.

READ MORE: Virat Kohli and the DRS Drama not Good Viewing

“It’s never easy. He was doing the bulk of the responsibility for that long period. Not many captains have done that. MS Dhoni had a fantastic reign as captain. Even towards the end, he gave up a couple of formats but Virat, at the kind of phase that he is, has a good period of 4-5 years remaining in him, if not more,” Bangar said.

“If you look at the history of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid gave up the captaincy, Sachin Tendulkar gave up captaincy and went on to play for longer periods. The way I look at it, yes, Virat Kohli was fabulous as a leader, he did the job well for 6 years. It’s time to unveil the version of Virat Kohli 3.0 and that’s where he can be the most damaging as a batter with less responsibility. Batters at this age are generally at their prime. So let’s look forward to some good performances from him with the bat because Virat, the batsman, is what sets the world on fire,” he concluded.

However, KL Rahul is leading Team India in the ongoing three-match ODI series in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Sharma was made India’s full-time white-ball captain last year in December. But had sustained a hamstring injury and was eventually ruled out of the entire series.