Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels superstar Virat Kohli can’t be termed as the greatest Indian captain of all time.
Notably, Kohli recently stepped down as the Test captain after the unsuccessful tour of South Africa. However, the Delhi-lad ended his stint as the most successful Indian skipper in the longest format, winning 40 out of 68 Tests.
It won’t be wrong to say that if Kohli continued leading the team for a few more years, he could have gone on to become one of the most successful captains of all time. There is no doubt that Kohli’s decision to withdraw from Test captaincy shocked many, but he has already left behind a legacy that will be hard to match for any future captain.
Manjrekar lavished praise on Kohli for his never-say-die attitude but also explained why the 33-year-old can’t be counted among the best Indian captains of all time.
“When you look at Kohli, there are a lot of things to like about him because he is somebody who led by example. He has kept India’s morale high. That is what you get with Virat Kohli, the never-say-die attitude. In the World Test Championship final, India lost. But till the last minute, India, through Virat Kohli, was still fighting to salvage the game. But finally, you’ve got to talk about the results. The results were not coming,” Manjrekar told News18.
The cricketer-turned-commentator reckoned that the likes of MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, and Sourav Ganguly were better captains than Kohli as they led India to much greater success and took up the captaincy role in quite challenging times.
“So when we talk about all-time greats, it would be very unfair to not count Dhoni in that. Kapil Dev at a time when there was an inferiority complex at the world level. Saurav Ganguly, after the match-fixing era, gave India some overseas wins. Sunil Gavaskar also. So these are all great leaders. These are guys that I believe have been better captains than Virat Kohli, who has been very good in his own right,” added Manjrekar.
