Kohli loses a Test series against South Africa, and ends his captaincy of the Indian Test cricket team. He was the most successful captain in Indian Test history.

It’s been a huge suprise and a huge shock to the world of cricket. Yet the signs were there.

There were unmistakable indications of immense frustration in his last two days as Test cricket captain. Virat Kohli seemed to have lost control of his team’s — and his own — behaviour.

For example, with South Africa needing a handful of runs for an unexpected Test-match and Series victory, a fielder threw a ball way wide of the wicketkeeper and added a totally unnecessary four runs to the South African victory chase. It was nothing like any other throw during the entire match, and looked deliberately self-destructive.

And there was also the extraordinary row the day before when, after a decision was reversed by the computerised review system, Kohli and two other players artificially launched a verbal onslaught via the stump microphone.

Here’s what Kohli wrote.

This tweet suggests Kohli, a man filled with emotion and drive, feels he cannot provide “120 per cent” effort any more in marshalling his side.

He can certainly be proud of his achievements as India’s cricket leader. Apart from three Australian captains, when Kohli has led his side for the last seven years he has actually produced the best ratio of wins to losses in the history of Test cricket. [South African captain Ali Bacher had a perfect 100 per cent winning record, but that is not counted as a statistic because he only captained four times [against Australia in 1970, before his country’s team was banned from world cricket during the apartheid era.]

Kohli will probably continue as a Test batsman. His average is up among the world’s best at over 50 runs per innings, and he showed a welcome return to form in South Africa after a lean period.