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Former India opener and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir said he was surprised by Virat Kohli's decision to step down as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore after the completion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, questioning the timing of his announcement.

Gautam Gambhir said Virat Kohli's announcement which was made on the eve of RCB's first match of the UAE leg of IPL 2021 can make the team unsettled and put more pressure on them to win it for their captain.

Virat Kohli said on Sunday that we would step down as RCB captain at the end of the remainder of IPL 2021. Kohli said he wanted to be clear about the decision, keeping in mind the mega auction in 2022. Kohli maintained that he will continue to play for RCB until he retires from the T20 format of the game.

With Ravi Shastri's tenure as Team India's head coach coming to an end after the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman, former India spinner Anil Kumble is likely to return for a second term in that position. 

The development was confirmed in a report by The Indian Express, which stated that the Supreme Court-mandated panel is devicing ways to get Kumble reappointed as the head coach.   

Kumble is currently working with IPL franchise Punjab Kings and was the head coach of Team India for a year until 2017 before stepping down from the position. The spinner had then decided to quit after reports of differences between him and captain Virat Kohli emerged, with the former even expressing shock upon learning that the skipper had reservations with his style. He had then guided India to the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy, which the Men In Blue lost against Pakistan. 

Virat Kohli has announced he will step down as India's T20I captain after the conclusion of the upcoming T20 World Cup. He wants to continue as Test and ODI captain, however.

Kohli announced his decision on Twitter, saying he made it with his workload in mind as a three-format player, and that he has already spoken about it with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah, and the selectors. He said he arrived at his decision after "a lot of contemplation and discussions with my close people", including India head coach Ravi Shastri and the white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who has already led India in 19 T20Is when Kohli has been rested.

Though the BCCI is yet to name a successor, Rohit is likely to be the frontrunner.

Chennai Super Kings are regarded as one of the most successful franchise in the Indian Premier League history and much of the credit for the brilliant run goes to their skipper MS Dhoni. The wicketkeeper-batsman has been associated with the franchise since the inception of the tournament in 2008 and under his leadership the team has went on to win the IPL thrice. 

However, with Dhoni already retired from international cricket, it is evident that it may not be long that the wicketkeeper-batsman decides to hang his boots from franchise cricket too. The answer to this question for now remains with the cricketer himself, but in an interesting social media exchange, India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has shown keen interest in stepping into Dhoni's shoes.

Amid reports that the BCCI is planning to remove Virat Kohli as captain of ODI and T20 and give the mantle to Rohit Sharma, BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Monday (September 13) said that Kohli will remain the Team India captain as long as India continues to perform on the field.

"As long as a team is performing while on the crease, the question of change in captaincy doesn’t arise,” Jay Shah said.

It is to be noted that Kohli has a superb record across formats as a captain but he has failed to win a major ICC trophy as captain so far. Kohli-led Team India came very close to winning the ICC World Test Championship where the team lost to New Zealand.  India last won the ICC Trophy in 2013 when MS Dhoni led the Men In Blue to glory at the Champions Trophy.