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Ravi Shastri doesn't rule out Virat Kohli giving up ODI captaincy to 'focus' on batting

Virat Kohli has already relinquished the captaincy of the T20 format of the game both at India and the Indian Premier League level but his longtime partner Ravi Shastri, who has just finished his five-year-long tenure as India’s head coach and worked closely with Kohli, believes there can be many more resignations from his side.

There are many media reports claiming that Kohli will be asked to give up on ODI captaincy as well to “focus” more on batting and while he has not hinted anything of that sort, Shastri’s views can fuel the speculation even further.

Shastri said that it can’t be ruled out that Kohli will come forward and say that he doesn’t want to take the extra pressure of leading an ODI side and the development can occur in near future as well. However, he strongly believes that Kohli will not give up Test captaincy unless he has to go through serious “mental fatigue”.

“In red-ball cricket, India has been the No.1 team in the world for the last 5 years under Virat Kohli. So unless he wants to give up or if he is mentally fatigued and says he wants to focus on his batting - which can happen in the near future, don't think it will happen immediately - it can happen,” Ravi Shastri told India Today.  

“The same might happen with the ODI. He might say he wants to focus just on Test captaincy. It is his mind and body that will make that decision. He won't be the first, there are many players in the past who have had very successful tenures and captains and then given it up to focus on batting.”

India were knocked out of the T20 World Cup which was Kohli and Shastri’s last assignment as the leadership group of the Indian T20 side and since then there are speculations that Rohit Sharma will be awarded with full-time responsibility of both the T20 and ODI sides.

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Joe Root have ‘all options on the table’ as Stokes, Broad look ‘promising’ for first Ashes Test

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