"It’s a high-pressure job, which he seems to enjoy"- David Gower on Virat Kohli
David Gower believes Virat Kohli relishes the opportunity to lead Team India even though captaining a team is a high-pressure job. Gower highlighted how being a captain of India is a 'political job', as Kohli is under constant scrutiny of billions of people.
The 32-year-old is yet to lead India to a title in a major ICC event. However, many experts have labelled Virat Kohli's team as the best ever Indian team of all time.
David Gower thinks Virat Kohli as a captain is 'up there' with some of the best captains in modern-day cricket. However, the former England batsman also pointed out how leading Team India is a different challenge altogether.
"Virat is also up there in the sense that the Indian cricket team captain’s role is not just flipping a coin, making a few runs and trying to bail his side out. It’s a huge political job. It comes with immense responsibilities, and it has got a billion people watching. And that’s just at home. He has also got another billion around the world watching," Gower said in an interaction with The Telegraph.
The former England captain continued in this regard:
“So it’s a high-pressure job, which he seems to enjoy. I think that’s a really good sign about a captain. If you come across as relishing the responsibility and getting more out of it than just being captain of the team, I think it then points to a certain inherent character, which is really good.”
Virat Kohli and his team will have a glorious chance to win two major ICC events this year.
India have qualified for the final of the ICC World Test Championship, where they will lock horns against New Zealand. Later in the year, India will host the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is scheduled for October.
David Gower not concerned about Virat Kohli's lack of hundreds
It has been almost 500 days since Virat Kohli last scored an international century. The Indian captain last reached the three-digit mark in 2019 against Bangladesh in November.
However, David Gower does read too much into that and believes Kohli's reflexes or hunger hasn't gone down.
"I would doubt if his reflexes have been affected because one of the things well-publicised about him is that he’s extremely fit. He works very hard at his game, so he’s less likely to be affected by any minimal slowing reflexes. I wouldn’t worry about Virat’s reflexes or his hunger for the game. I would most likely put it down to one of those sequences that happens to everyone," Gower said.
Virat Kohli will once again be under intense scrutiny when he leads his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore in the upcoming season of the IPL.
RCB are one of three teams yet to win the IPL title. Virat Kohli and co. will open their IPL 2021 campaign against Mumbai Indians in Chennai on 9 April.