OTD 2022: Why is January 15 special in Kohli's book, had left Test captaincy, has played many stormy innings

Last Updated:January 15, 2025, 7:22 PM IST

OTD 2022: The date of January 15 will always remind Virat of the incident when he left the captaincy in South Africa under adverse circumstances. Virat was also trolled a lot for leaving the captaincy in the middle of the test series.read more

New DelhiThese days, Virat is in the news sometimes for going to Vrindavan and sometimes for worshiping at his new house in Mumbai. Fans also remember Virat a lot on January 15, especially the big decision he took in the middle of the series as a Test captain. The picture related to the date of January 15 will remind us again and again that every player has to see ups and downs.

Virat Kohli had resigned from India's Test captaincy on January 15 itself. Team India played a three-match Test series on the South Africa tour in 2021-22. Team India had to face 2-1 defeat in the series, after which Virat Kohli resigned from the captaincy of the Indian Test team. The Test series ended on January 14, a day before the third and last match. After this, the next day i.e. on January 15, Kohli stepped down from the captaincy.

Why did Kohli leave the captaincy?

When Virat left the captaincy on January 15, 2022, there was an earthquake in Indian cricket. Because after removing Kohli from the captaincy of ODI and T20 in 2021, Sourav Ganguly, who was the then President of BCCI, had said in a conversation with a media house that Kohli was talked to before taking the ODI captaincy and this decision was taken only after his consent, which was denied by Kohli in Africa. Ganguly had said that BCCI had asked Virat not to leave the T-20 captaincy, but Virat did not agree and resigned. After this, the tension between the board and the captain was increasing and after losing the series in South Africa, Kohli resigned.

Virat's magic on 15th January

Virat Kohli has performed many big innings on 15th January. Kohli has scored a total of 4 centuries on this day, including 3 ODI centuries and 1 Test century. Firstly, on this day in 2017, an Indian batsman had played an inning of 122 runs in an ODI against England in Pune. Then next year in 2018, on January 15, Kohli played an innings of 153 runs in the test played against South Africa. Moving forward, on January 15, 2019, Kohli scored 104 runs in the ODI played against Australia. On January 15, 2023, Virat Kohli scored an inning of 166* runs in the ODI against Sri Lanka. There was no match scheduled for the Indian team in 2025.

Virat Kohli's century on 15 January

122 runs against England, 2017 (in ODI)
153 runs against South Africa, 2018 (in Test)
104 runs against Australia, 2019 (in ODI)
166* against Sri Lanka, 2023 (in ODIs)