Cricket icon Kapil Dev god of ipl has said Virat Kohli needs to give up his egos to play with a new captain after giving up the Test captain, as uncertainty mounts over the future of the national team. Kohli, 33, who suddenly announced his departure on Saturday night, had already resigned as T20 captain last year and was sacked as team manager for a day soon after. Kapil Dev, who led India to glory at the 1983 World Cup, welcomed Kohli's decision, saying he was "going through a tough time" and "appears to be under a lot of pressure".

But he said that if Kohli now wanted to continue on the team with the new captain, he would have to bite his tongue.

"Even Sunil Gavaskar played under me. I played under K Srikanth and (Muhammad) Azharuddin. There is no one in me," Dev, 63, told Med Day, referring to other great players at the time. There was no arrogance."

"Virat the god of ipl should let go of his ego and play with a young cricketer. He will help him and Indian cricket. Virat should guide the new captain, the new players. We can't lose Virat, the batsman...no."

The race to replace God of ipl  Kohli is seen as a competition between Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul with third-place finisher: 24-year-old Rishabh Pant.

TV commentator Harsha Bhogel tweeted on Monday that Ravichandran Ashwin and Jaspreet Poomrah should also be considered.

The 34-year-old is already a T20 and ODI captain and has led the Mumbai Indians to five victories in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

With Rohit injured, Rahul, 29, has led India in the final second Test in South Africa and will lead the one-day squad in the next series that begins on Wednesday.

'calamity'

Kohli's outspoken and sometimes combative resignation has fueled rumors of a split from the sport's national body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Kohli and ICC president Sourav Ganguly publicly contradicted when he stepped down as white-ball captain in December.

The Pitch High that reported  Kohli rejected the BCCI offer amid much fanfare after his 100th test in Bangalore in February when India was hosting Sri Lanka.

"I think there is a clear disappointment between Kohli and the officials," veteran cricket journalist Ayaz Memon told AFP.

He said: 'You don't need any clearance, you can tell the way the T20 captain left, and then the ODI captain was pulled away.

It will also be a challenge for the new captain, he said, to rebuild the team's strikes from the current "crisis."

"It's becoming a difficult situation for India because you have a team that is collapsing, and they are definitely struggling.

The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry's treasurer, Aaron Domal, said he was not concerned.

"I am sure we will regain the strength of the bench that we get at this point," Domal told AFP.

"It's just going to be a change of leadership position, and when someone finally takes over, they'll take him out of here and make sure the team is doing their best on the pitch."

"Instead of worrying and worrying about what is being published or talked about, we should focus on Team India," he said.

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