Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar doesn’t rate Virat Kohli’s captaincy as highly as other Indian captains’ from the past, even though Kohli walked away as the most successful India captain in terms of Test wins. Notable that Kohli stepped down from test captaincy after a 1-2 series loss against South Africa, He already left the T20I captaincy after the World Cup last year and he was sacked from ODI captaincy right before the South Africa tour.
Speaking to CNN-News18, Manjrekar said that there are lots of things to like about Virat Kohli as he is always live wire in the field but his record in ICC events puts him slightly behind in comparison to others.
Virat Kohli led India in 68 Tests, 95 ODIs and 50 T20Is
“MS Dhoni is clearly one of India’s greatest captains. I judge captains generally on international cricket and also on ICC events. Because that’s when you are really tested, but ICC events, that is where Dhoni has been tremendous.” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
Indi won 3 ICC titles under the captaincy of MS Dhoni while none under Virat Kohli. However, Manjrekar lauded Kohli’s fighting spirit as he gave an example of Johannesburg Test 2018 where India was ready to fight till the most moment in a spicy pitch.
“When you look at Kohli, there are a lot of things to like about him because he is somebody who led by example. The Wanderers Test match before this series, when they played on a treacherous pitch. India lost the series 2-0 but Kohli set an example as captain. He said that we want to win this despite a pitch that could have killed somebody. That kept India’s morale high. That is what you get with Virat Kohli, the never-say-die attitude,” he added.
Manjrekar believes that there is a lot of hype around Kohli’s captaincy but Indian cricket didn’t start 10 years ago as the likes of Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, and Sourav Ganguly also led India to glory in tougher times.
“When we talk about all-time greats, it would be very unfair to not count Dhoni in that. Kapil Dev at a time when there was an inferiority complex at the world level. Saurav Ganguly after the match-fixing era gave India some overseas wins. Sunil Gavaskar also. So these are all great leaders. You live in an age where there are a lot of platforms, so the hype is more. But Indian cricket didn’t start 10 years back. These are guys that I believe have been better captains than Virat Kohli who has been very good in his own right,” he concluded.