New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS): The former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has outlined the reason behind Virat Kohli relinquishing India Test captaincy, saying the prolific batter might not have felt safe about his captaincy after the series loss against South Africa.

A day after India lost the series 1-2 to South Africa with a seven-wicket defeat in the third and final Test at Cape Town, Virat Kohli stepped down as captain of the Test team.

After Kohli announced his decision, many current and former cricketers congratulated him for taking the Test team to newer heights. However, speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar pointed out that Kohli's tenure as captain came to an end across all formats very quickly.

"It's come one after the other in a very short span of time, giving up the white-ball captaincy and IPL captaincy as well. This also was unexpected, but it is interesting that all these three resignations of important positions have come so quickly one after the other," Manjrekar was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Manjrekar felt that Virat Kohli didn't want anyone to sack him as the captain.

"I think, in some way, he wants to make himself unsackable as captain. When he gets that vibe that his captaincy is under threat, he tends to quit," he added.

Kohli, who first captained India at the Adelaide Test in 2014 against Australia, was handed the role full-time after MS Dhoni announced his retirement from the format ahead of the fourth Test at Sydney in January 2015.

Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy as the most successful skipper in the longest format of the game for India and fourth overall. During his time as the captain, India played 68 Tests, winning 40, losing 17 and drawing 11 matches. He had a win percentage of 58.82 and during his tenure, the team registered memorable wins in overseas and home conditions.

It also means that the Cape Town Test was the last match for Kohli as India captain.