Virat Kohli received backlash for his captaincy after India’s defeat in the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand in Southampton. Several experts urged Indian team management to look beyond Kohli and sack him from captaincy.
However, former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar puts his weight behind Captain Kohli. He backs Indian stalwarts saying he will end up captaining more than any other international captain.
Also Read: Virat Kohli is a passionate individual, says KL Rahul
“If as leaders, you have the opportunity to actually dictate the way the culture of the team is and the outcomes that the team derives, then, in that case, all of them (nominees) were in quest of excellence. So is Virat, I do not doubt that he’ll end up being probably captaining more than any other captain in the history of the game,” Sanjay Bangar said in Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Live.’
India’s Test side has been the most dominant force in world cricket for the last five years. India has become untouchable in home conditions while when touring away, they give tough competition to other teams. He has led India to several memorable wins overseas, including the first-ever Test series win in Australia. Riding on this form, Team India reached the inaugural World Test Championship Final after topping the points table.
However, Kohli receives criticism for having no ICC trophies to show in his cabinet. He led India in three ICC tournaments and India fell short of winning in all of them. India received a heartbreaking defeat by Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2017. The next bitter defeat came in the World Cup 2019 where New Zealand eliminated India in the semifinal. The most recent is the WTC final defeat against New Zealand.
Also Read: Saba Karim feels pressure is pilling up on Virat Kohli
Meanwhile, Dhoni won 27 Test matches as captain and lost 18 in his 60 games in charge. Kohli is India’s most successful Test captain with 36 wins and 14 losses.
Kohli is also the longest-serving Test captain for any Asian country with Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga and Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq behind him as they captained their respective teams in 56 Test matches each.
Kohli, who has led India 95 matches across formats, has the highest win percentage among Indian captains. His win percentage of 70.43 is way more than second-best Dhoni’s 59.52.
