India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik said that Virat Kohli left a big legacy not just for Indian cricket, but for World Cricket. Notable that Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy in January after the series loss against South Africa.
Now, as he is all set to play the 100th Test match of his career, it will be his first test match as non-captain since January 2015.
Kohli captained India in 68 Tests with 40 wins and 17 losses as he took over from MS Dhoni who called it a day from the longest format midway in the series against Australia in 2014-15.
“I do not think Virat Kohli has just left a legacy for Indian cricket, he has left a legacy for world cricket. The intensity with which India has played Test cricket for the last few years has been phenomenal.
“The world has been amazed by how much energy Virat can bring. People all around the globe enjoyed that. I think Kohli brought fitness to the table and he has made that a mandate, people have followed that and you can see the standard of fielding has gone up two notches,” said Karthik on the ‘ICC Review’.
Virat Kohli brought fitness to the table – Dinesh Karthik
When he was asked about the highlight of his captaincy tenure, Karthik said that it would be Australia’s tour of India in 2017 when India conceded the opening test match on a ranking turner in Pune but bounced back strongly in the second test despite conceding the lead in the first innings.
“I think for me, it would be the Australia tour of India when India lost the first Test in Pune on a rank turner.
“A lot of eyeballs were raised on how can India lose on a turning pitch but after that, they played in Bengaluru, things just went on an upward curve after that. Backs were against the wall after the first Test,” Karthik said.
Kohli also became the first-ever Asian captain to win the series in Australia when they beat the hosts by 2-1 in the 2018-19 series and they repeated the same with a depleted side under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane when Kohli returned home after the first test match for paternity leave.
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