Kapil Dev, former Indian player and World Cup winning captain, has said Virat Kohli will feel the pressure of leading India across all formats now and the fans and the cricket pundits need to give him enough time to settle into that role.
“I’m a great Virat fan but I fear he might feel overburdened now,” Kapil said.
“Virat needs a good start in the series (against England) as a batsman and in terms of results and pray things fall in place. I don’t want him to feel the burden in limited overs because his captaincy in Tests is more important to me.
“Virat is an emotional cricketer and while that has been his strength as a player, Test captaincy has allowed him to mature and handle different situations accordingly. Limited overs will be challenging and with superman-like expectations, he definitely will need time to settle down. We all need to give him that,” Kapil Dev told HT.
Though, Kohli is yet to put a foot wrong as a Test skipper, Kapil Dev still believes the Delhi lad needs to mature as a captain, “Look at how he availed of DRS in the first Test. He was charged up and almost restless and would take the call from wherever he was fielding. But then he realised his mistake. By the time the last Test was played, he was not relying just on bowlers, he would go to specific fielders or the wicketkeeper for suggestions. He adapted well and that showed his maturity. He will lose a few games too and that will be his biggest challenge — how quickly to get out of that situation. The entire country has hopes from him,” he added.
Kapil Dev further said that Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be crucial to the team during the Champions Trophy, where the Indian team will go in as the defending champions. “Nobody can doubt the talent Dhoni and Yuvraj have, but when you are 34-35, talent alone doesn’t help. So many things have to be looked at — fitness, motivation and above all runs. They will obviously have Virat’s confidence, but performances will count more than anything. If Dhoni and Yuvraj do well at No 4 and 5 in this series, India will stand a better chance of defending the Champions Trophy.”
Kohli will face a stern test when he leads the ODI team against England from January 15. This will be the first time when Dhoni will be a part of the team led by Kohli. Along with Kohli, Dhoni will also feel the heat as now every series he plays will be a big test for him which he has to pass in order to retain his place in the team. The inclusion of wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant in the T20I squad is the first red signal to Dhoni.