Although many would concur that Virat Kohli has been among the best batters in recent years in cricket, fans have been critical of the former Indian skipper’s time in that position due to his failure to win an ICC championship. As Kohli did not lead India to a major championship, many people think he was a misguided captain.
However, Salman Butt, a former captain of Pakistan, asserted that Kohli should not be viewed as a bad leader simply because India did not win an ICC event when Kohli was leading them. “People who do not understand the game of cricket very well judge a captain’s performance based on how he has fared in the Champions Trophy or the World Cup. However, if you have a good win percentage and are tactically very strong, but haven’t won a big tournament, it wouldn’t be fair to say that you haven’t been a good captain,” Butt said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“There might have been a few mistakes in high-pressure games, or it might just have been a case of luck. Not winning an ICC tournament doesn’t tell us that [Virat Kohli] wasn’t a strong leader,” Butt added. In the current four-match Test series against Australia, Kohli is a member of the Indian lineup. On March 1, the third Test between India and Australia was played at Holkar Stadium. India was only able to score 109 runs after a poor start to the game. The 34-year-old Virat Kohli led the hosts in runs scored with 22 runs off 52 deliveries.
India managed to dismiss Australian opener Travis Head early on, but Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne provided just the start that Australia needed. Khawaja played a fabulous knock of 60 runs off 147 deliveries before he was sent back to the pavilion by Jadeja. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel will have to come through on the Day 2 if India wants to have any chance of a comeback as only Ravindra Jadeja could manage to take wickets on Day 1.
