"Everyone thought he will bring in a lot more josh" - When Sunil Gavaskar raised questions on Virat Kohli's Test captaincy
Virat Kohli holds the record for having won the most number of Test matches as captain for India. Between 2014 and 2022, he led the country in 68 Tests out of which India won 40 and lost 17, drawing the other 11. The 35-year-old ended his captaincy stint with an impressive win percentage of 58.82.
While overall Kohli had an excellent run as Test captain, there were a few low points during his tenure when India toured abroad. Under his leadership, India lost the 2017-18 Test series in South Africa 2-1 and suffered a 4-1 defeat in England in 2018.
Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar questioned Kohli's captaincy during the 2018 tour of England. After the visitors conceded a 3-1 lead by losing the fourth Test in Southampton, the former Indian captain expressed his disappointment and said (as quoted by India Today):
"Everybody would be disappointed looking at the result because when Virat Kohli took over as captain, it seemed like the team would head into a new direction under him. The team looked hungry to win and seemed more hopeful of doing well under Kohli. Everyone thought that he will bring in a lot more josh, a lot more energy into the team. So quite naturally, there will be questions asked about his captaincy."
"Even the way in which India came back to beat Australia in the Test series last year after losing the first match, that gave us the impression that India wouldn't back down to any challenge under captain Kohli. It seemed India would always play with their heads held high," Gavaskar added.
While the former India opener put some question marks on Kohli's captaincy, he praised the latter for doing everything possible as a batter. The right-hander finished as the leading run-getter during the India-England Test series in 2018, hammering 593 runs in 10 innings, with two hundreds and three fifties.
Highs and lows of Virat Kohli's stint as Test captain
While India lost the Test series in South Africa (2017-18) and England (2018), they registered a historic 2-1 series triumph in Australia in 2018-19. Under Kohli, though, India suffered another 2-1 series loss in South Africa in 2021-22 in what turned out to be his last series as captain. Earlier, India also went down to New Zealand in the 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton.
On the other hand, India never lost a home Test series during Kohli's captaincy tenure. He led India in 31 Tests at home out of which the team won 24 and lost only two, of which five matches ended in a draw.