"The aura created by Virat Kohli was huge" - Former skipper’s childhood coach admits an era has ended
Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has admitted that an era has ended in Indian cricket, with the former no longer captain in any of the formats. According to Sharma, the time has come for a new leadership group to take Indian cricket forward.
Kohli’s stint as India captain ended when he quit Test leadership following the series loss in South Africa. He had earlier resigned as T20I captain after which he was sacked as ODI skipper.
Asked whether an era had ended in Indian cricket with Kohli no longer the captain, Sharma admitted during the Khelneeti podcast:
“Every captain has an era and the Kohli era has ended. The aura created by Virat Kohli was huge. He worked very hard and served the Indian cricket team with great dedication and commitment. The new captain will come in with new ideas. Fortunately, we have a new skipper and coach. Hopefully, they can be on the same page so India can come forward with a new strategy.”
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Kohli played as a pure batter in the ODI series against South Africa. He scored two fifties in three matches even as India went down 0-3 in the Rainbow Nation.
“I think Virat Kohli should have continued as Test captain” - Nikhil Chopra
According to former India off-spinner Nikhil Chopra, Kohli should have continued as Test captain as he could have had another shot at winning the World Test Championship (WTC).
The 48-year-old opined:
“I think Virat Kohli should have continued as Test captain. We are in a WTC cycle and Kohli had a chance to win an ICC trophy. Really don’t know the reason behind him quitting. Before 2011, there were talks that Sachin was looking to win a World Cup (and he did). Virat could have won 50 Tests as captain, but more importantly he could have won the Test championship.”
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Concluding the discussion on Kohli’s Test leadership, Sharma hailed the 33-year-old for bringing in an aggressive mindset into the team, specifically with regards to fast bowlers. He elaborated:
“Virat had a vision that when we go overseas we should have fast bowlers who can scare the hosts to such an extent that they would fear a green top backfiring. Virat and Ravi (Shastri) were aggressive by nature. They were not scared of losing. Let’s see how the new combination works.”
Under Kohli, India won 40 of 68 Tests, making him the country’s most successful skipper in the longest format.