Virat Kohli quitting Test captaincy was a small setback for India before South Africa ODIs: Harbhajan Singh

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said that Virat Kohli’s decision to quit Test captaincy midway during the South Africa tour did affect India a little bit ahead of the ODI series. India lost a Test series 2-1 after which they were blanked 3-0 by South Africa in the ODIs.

Virat Kohli announced his decision to quit Test captaincy a day after India lost the 3rd Test in Cape Town by 7 wickets. Kohli’s announcement helped raise quite a few eyebrows as he had said in September last year that he wanted to continue as India’s ODI and Test captain after he stepped down from the role of T20I captain.

However, Kohli was sacked from ODI captaincy before the South Africa tour and he brought an end to his 7-year-long tenure as Test captain. Kohli had quashed rumors that he would not be part of the ODI series in South Africa and played all 3 ODIs, scoring 2 fifties but India were unable to put pressure on the hosts in the 3-match series.

“Virat Kohli quitting Test captaincy… I think the result had a huge impact. Many people think about what happened. If Virat Kohli is insecure with this, then other players also are. What are the reasons behind him quitting captaincy, only he will know.

“But I feel quitting captaincy during the tour gave a small setback to the team for sure,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan also said India will feel that the ODI and Test series loss in South Africa is a missed opportunity, considering the gulf of quality between the two sides on paper. India headed to South Africa as favourites and went on to win the first Test in Centurion. However, the series went downhill for them when they lost the 2nd Test in Johannesburg.

India were never able to recover from the setback as they returned home without managing another win in South Africa.

‘BIG CHANCE MISSED BY INDIA’

“It wasn’t expected what happened in South Africa. Team India went there and I thought it was a good opportunity to defeat South Africa in their own backyard because they are known to have a very strong team; it used to be.

“But this Indian team lost to a team which wasn’t that strong. I don’t think they have many famous players and if you see their bowlers, they are not that great”, Harbhajan said.

“After losing the series, even Team India must be thinking that they lost a good opportunity as it was their biggest chance.

“If you see the SA team, they don’t have AB de Villiers, neither Faf du Plessis nor Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis.

“So it was a big chance missed by Team India”, he added.

India were led by KL Rahul in the absence of injured Rohit Sharma in the ODI series in South Africa. However, the Mumbai Indians captain is likely to return for the ODI and T20I series against West Indies at home in February.