Interesting to see how Virat Kohli performs without captaincy responsibility: Saba Karim

Former Indian cricketer Syed Saba Karim has put out his thoughts on the three-match ODI series between India and South Africa, which begins with the first ODI at Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday. Karim took to his official Koo account and spoke about former Indian skipper Virat Kohli. The ODI series will be Kohli’s first assignment for India in seven years, where he will play purely as a batter without the responsibility of leading the team.

Meanwhile, shedding his views on Kohli, Saba Karim mentioned in his Koo post that India faces the Proteas in a new series under a new skipper and coach. He added the squad is all set for the ODI series after defeat in the Test series and further added that Kohli will not play as a skipper. The former cricketer concluded his post by saying it would be interesting to see Kohli’s performance playing purely as a batter without any captaincy role.

Virat Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy after Test series loss

The Test series between India and South Africa ended on January 14, with a 2-1 win for the hosts. India started the three-match series by winning the first Test before the hosts displayed dominating performance in the last two matches. Following the series loss, Kohli was denied the historic feat of earning the first-ever Test series victory for India in the rainbow nation. A day after losing to the Dean Elgar-led side, Kohli announced his decision to step down from the Test captaincy of India.

The road ahead for Virat Kohli- 'The batter'

Kohli earlier stepped down from the T20I captaincy of India in November, before being removed from the role in ODIs without any prior communication in December. Having been relieved from any type of responsibility as a skipper of the squad, Kohli will now play purely as a batter. Cricket fans in India are highly expecting Kohli to hit his 71st international century in the ODI series, having scored his last 100 for India in 2019. Kohli is expected to provide strength to the Indian batting line-up, consisting of experienced campaigners like KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan alongside youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav among the others.

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