India captain Rohit Sharma once again showed the respect he has for former skipper and teammate Virat Kohli when he admitted that he learned captaincy in Test cricket by observing Kohli.
Virat Kohli is arguably India’s greatest Test captain. Under Kohli, India didn’t lose a single home Test series – and lost only two Test matches at home – and won their maiden Test series in Australia. Kohli brought in the culture of developing fast bowlers, assembling a bowling attack that could pick 20 wickets in overseas Tests. Under Virat Kohli’s tenure, India recorded some memorable Test match wins in Australia, England, and South Africa.
Virat Kohli, however, stepped down from the post in 2022, after a series loss in South Africa amid his issues with the BCCI, then headed by Sourav Ganguly.
I learned to maintain pressure on opposition from Virat Kohli: Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma was the frontrunner to take that vacant job and he took. However, India lost the WTC 2023 final this year to Australia. India have, though, won Test series in Bangladesh and the West Indies and defeated Australia at home in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series under Rohit. Sharma’s next big challenge is the 2-Test series in South Africa, starting December 26. India have not won a single Test series in South Africa so far.
Earlier this year, Rohit Sharma admitted he learned plenty of things watching Kohli as a Test captain,
“Setting the field right, when I was playing as a player, Virat was captaining then. I noticed one thing that, no matter if we don’t get a wicket, but that pressure has to be there so that the opposition makes a mistake. That is something I learned when Virat was captaining and these guys were bowling,” Rohit told the press conference in Nagpur earlier this year during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
“That’s is what I am trying to do now, just apply that pressure, don’t get too excited with the wicket. The wickets are not going to come every ball, it’s not going to come like that. If it happens, then nothing like that. We got to remind ourselves that it’s not going to happen as frequently. We need to keep working hard,” he added.
