Michael Vaughan picks the better Indian captain between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has picked the best Indian captain between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Vaughan called Dhoni a 'trailblazer' in limited-overs cricket and chose Kohli as the better Test leader. But overall, he chose Dhoni as the superior skipper across the three formats.
MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are two of the most successful captains India have ever produced. Dhoni has an unparalleled record of winning all three ICC trophies and also helped India attain top spot in the ICC Test rankings. Kohli, on the other hand, has a record of 36 wins from 60 Tests and holds the distinction of leading Team India to their first Test series win in Australia.
Michael Vaughan bluntly explained the rationale behind his choices to Crictracker -
“MS, I think he’s the trailblazer, particularly in the white-ball and T20 game. He’s the best ever T20 captain by a good distance. I think what he brought to the Indian team was fantastic. I would say that Virat is the better Test captain. Virat leads the Test team brilliantly so I would have Virat over MS in test cricket but in white-ball cricket it is MS. But if you ask me for one. I had to only pick one across all formats, just as a captain, I would pick MS Dhoni.”
MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket in early 2015, and renounced the captaincy in white-ball formats in 2017, handing over the reins to a young and voracious Virat Kohli.
Kohli has since led the team in two major competitions - the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. Team India lost to Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy before New Zealand got the better of them in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Virat Kohli's golden opportunity to come out of MS Dhoni's shadow
The paucity of trophies in his cabinet is one of the major roadblocks in Virat Kohli's career as Indian captain. While he is yet to win an IPL title, his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma already has five. Sharma has also won an Asia Cup and the Nidhas Trophy - both in Kohli's absence.
The 2021 Border Gavaskar Trophy win Down Under, which was considered more notable than the 2019 triumph, came under Ajinkya Rahane in the absence of regular skipper Kohli.
However, Virat Kohli has had a major role to play in India's dream run in the inaugural World Test Championship. Undoubtedly, the upcoming summit clash against New Zealand in Southampton is a golden opportunity for Kohli to come out of MS Dhoni's esteemed shadows and etch his separate place in history, once and for all.