Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has hailed Virat Kohli as captain for injecting the fire and belief among the players to always go for the win.
Virat Kohli has the second most wins among Indian captains with 135 in 213 games across formats.
It is his test captaincy that deserves appraisal as India won 40 out of 68 matches under Kohli’s leadership. Despite not being able to lead India to an ICC title, Harbhajan Singh has pointed out how Kohli’s impact was seen during the Border Gavaskar Trophy in the 2020-21 season.
While speaking in an interview, he said, “You may not have won a World Cup under Kohli’s captaincy but it doesn’t make him a lesser captain or lesser player.”
“The fire that he ignited in the team, like it may be a target of 400 in the fourth innings of a Test, we’ll go for the chase, we won’t panic. If we go down, we do it while chasing. It takes a lot of guts and brain, which Kohli has instilled in the team.”
Harbhajan also mentioned how India reaped the rewards of Kohli’s captaincy with their successful run chase in the final test of the 2020/21 Australia series in Brisbane.
“The determination to fight till the end, which Shubman (Gill) and Rishabh (Pant) showed to win that Test in Gabba. It was because of the way the team’s thinking changed,” he stated.
Under Virat Kohli, the first-ever test series win in Australia in 2018/19. India won the first three tests before a drawn final test, which they dominated before rain had the final day to complete a 2-1 series win.
Kohli also captained India to a 2-1 lead in the 2021 tour of England before Covid-19 forced the test to be postponed to the following year.
India also made a famous test win against South Africa in Johannesburg under Kohli’s captaincy in 2018.
