In his short captaincy career so far, Virat Kohli has already some huge impression, and former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar is so impressed that he has backed the current captain to go down as one of India’s greatest cricket captains.
When Kohli took the captaincy, he had to follow in the footsteps of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is the most decorated skipper of the country. But instead of buckling under the burden of pressure, Kohli has to lead the team with utmost aplomb across formats. He took over the Test captaincy during the Australia tour of 2014-15 and led the team to a historic triumph in Sri Lanka which was his first full series as captain.
He followed it by leading the team to series wins over the likes of South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh, Australia as Team India strengthened its grip on the pinnacle of Test cricket. Earlier this year, he took over the ODI captaincy and had already made a big impression, leading the team to the Champions Trophy final in addition to series wins over England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and most recently Australia.
But while there is still a long way to go before Kohli even gets close to what his predecessors achieved, Gavaskar feels he is on the path of achieving greatness. The first man to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, Gavaskar told NDTV that Kohli brings flair to the team like the iconic skipper Tiger Pataudi and also praised the 28-year in cultivating a culture in the team that was rooted in physical fitness and ruthlessness.
Earlier, Gavaskar had also said that the current Indian team could become the greatest Indian team of all time after the Men in Blue thrashed Australia in the third ODI to seal the ongoing five-match series.
“Well, comparisons are not quite correct but this is a very, very good team. I think by the time this team finishes, I think it is going to go down as the greatest Indian one-day team ever. Because the balance is so good. The batting is right down to number 8 or 9,” Gavaskar had told the news outlet.
“You have bowlers who can bowl, whatever, whenever they are asked and therefore, I think you take all aspects into consideration and you know that this is a really, really special team, captained by a very special player,” he had added.