Virat Kohli Will Need to Give Up His Ego; Must Guide New Captain: Kapil Dev

India will be captained by KL Rahul in the ODI series against South Africa.

Kapil Dev and Virat Kohli

(Photo: IANS)

Former captain Kapil Dev believes that Virat Kohli will have to put aside his ego to play under the new leadership of the Indian team.

Kohli will be playing the ODI series against South Africa under the captaincy of KL Rahul, who took over in the absence of the injured Rohit Sharma.

Kohli, who was India Test captain, stepped down on Saturday. Earlier in December, he was sacked from the ODI captaincy by the BCCI after he had announced his decision to step away from the T20 leadership before that.

Kapil Dev, who led India to glory in the 1983 World Cup, welcomed Kohli's decision, saying he was "going through a rough time" and "appeared to be under a lot of pressure".

"Even Sunil Gavaskar played under me. I played under K Srikkanth and (Mohammad) Azharuddin. I had no ego," Dev, 63, was quoted as saying to the Mid-Day newspaper, referring to other greats of the era.

"Virat will have to give up his ego and play under a young cricketer. This will help him and Indian cricket. Virat should guide the new captain, new players. We cannot lose Virat, the batsman... no way."

The BCCI is yet to name a new captain for the Test side and the race is largely seen to be a three-horse one with Rohit, Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the options.

Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar recently suggested that handing the captaincy to Pant could be a way to go about things.

Rohit, 34, is already T20 and ODI captain, and has led the Mumbai Indians to five victories in the Indian Premier League (IPL).