Even though Virat Kohli is a renowned batting specialist in the world of cricket, there has always been much discussion over his time as India’s captain. With victories over England in the Lord’s Test in 2021 and a series in Australia, the Indian batter elevated Indian Test cricket to a whole new level. However, the team did not perform well enough during the ICC knockouts under his leadership.
The 35-year-old should have prolonged his captaincy in Test matches, according to former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar. For those who are unaware, following his September 2021 decision to withdraw from T20I captaincy, Kohli was controversially deprived of his captaincy in 2022. Additionally, he had stated in public that the management had not properly communicated the decision to alter the leadership.
In my opinion, Kohli ought to have stayed on as Test captain for an extended period of time. Sanjay Bangar stated in an appearance on The Rao Podcast, “I feel like he could have probably continued as a Test captain for a longer period of time. He probably captained India in 65 (sic. 68) Test matches.”
There was erroneous communication on the decision made: Virat Kohli
The most successful Indian Test captain to date is the former captain. In 68 Test matches, he captained the squad, won 40 of them, and his winning percentage stands at 58.82. In the 2018 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he was the key to India’s first-ever Test victory over Australia. Right-hander Shane Watson was determined to establish a devastating bowling attack that would make the most of the foreign conditions. Under his leadership, the squad advanced to the 2021 World Test Championship finals.
The President for 2022, Sourav Ganguly, joked that the Board had asked Kohli to stay on as the captain of the Twenty20 Indian team. He continued by saying that the selectors were not prepared to have two different captains for white-ball cricket and that the batsman had refused to budge from their request. Nevertheless, the batter from Delhi denied the allegations and provided his own version of events.
“All of the information that was stated regarding the conversations around the decision was untrue. I spoke with BCCI first when I made the decision to step down as T20 captain. I explained my thinking and justifications to them. Nobody advised me not to resign as T20 captain. It was well received. Neither hesitancy nor offence was present. It was considered a positive move in the right way, as Kohli had earlier stated.
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“I also stated at that time that, barring a decision by the office bearers and selectors to abdicate my captaincy, I would like to continue leading both ODIs and Tests. During the call, I cleared it. I had offered them the choice, and I had let them make that decision,” he had said.
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