Former South Africa opener Alviro Petersen has come with a tweet that highlighted the biggest achievement that Virat Kohli had during his tenure as India’s captain.
Kohli, on Saturday, brought curtains to India’s most successful captaincy period, and arguably India’s most successful Test period as well. In an unforeseen announcement, Kohli stepped down as the Test captain, just a day after India suffered a series defeat in South Africa.
Virat Kohli, who had taken over full-time Test captaincy from MS Dhoni in early 2015, became India’s most successful Test captain by some distance. He led the nation in 68 Tests, winnings 40 of those – the fourth-most number of wins for any Test skipper – losing 17 and drawing 11. Among Indians, next on the list are Dhoni (27 wins from 60 matches) and Sourav Ganguly (21 wins out of 49).
Alviro Petersen explained that Indian cricket changed drastically under Virat Kohli compared to his predecessors. He opined that before Kohli took over, India’s losses away from home “used to be ok” but under Kohli, especially in the past few years, the Indian team not only won away from home, but even started as favourites in some of the matches.
Petersen, who played 36 Tests for South Africa, asserted that Kohli always held himself accountable for team’s losses, an attribute other captains should learn from Kohli.
“Indian cricket used to be ok losing a test series overseas, but Virat Kohli showed that losing one now is not ok… That is the measure of Indian cricket’s rise! Kohli showed true leadership by being accountable for the team’s performances. Captains can learn from him!” Alviro Petersen tweeted in his compliments to India’s outgoing skipper.
Here, check out the tweet:
Indian cricket used to be ok losing a test series overseas, but Virat Kohli showed that losing one now is not ok… That is the measure of Indian cricket’s rise! Kohli showed true leadership by being accountable for the team’s performances. Captains can learn from him!
— Alviro Petersen (@AlviroPetersen) January 15, 2022
Petersen is, indeed, on the point. Of the 40 wins under Virat Kohli, 16 came overseas, including series triumphs in Sri Lanka (2-1) in 2015, West Indies (2-0) in 2016, Sri Lanka (3-0) in 2017, Australia (2-1) in 2018-19 and West Indies (2-0) in 2019, before India reached the inaugural WTC final; the Asian giants also currently lead the unfinished series in England by 2-1, with the fifth Test to be played later this year.
Virat Kohli took over the team when it was in the doldrums, languishing at number 7, and propelled it to the number 1 ranking.
In white-ball cricket, too, India registered series wins in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa in different formats.
