Last year Indian head coach Ravi Shastri hailed the current team as the best to have travelled overseas. While this statement can be up for debates, the fact remains that under Virat Kohli, this particular Test team has become a mean Test machine – a side which has players for all scenarios and a side which seems to have all bases covered. Hence, when Virat Kohli became the most successful Indian captain ever in West Indies, he credited the entire team for this feat.
There is another startling captaincy feat for Virat Kohli – when India tramples all over South Africa in Vizag, he became the only Indian captain to have a win rate in excess of 50% in Tests among all the captains with min. 30 Tests.
“Captaincy is just a ‘c’ in front of your name honestly. It’s the collective effort that matters,” Kohli told in the post-match presentation in Sabina Park, West Indies. “It’s a by-product of this quality team that we have here. If we didn’t have the bowlers that we have, I don’t think the results would have been possible.
“Yes, you can score as many runs as you want, but if you look at these guys running in and putting their heart in – I mean [Mohammed] Shami’s spell today, [Jasprit] Bumrah after having a small niggle, Ishant [Sharma] bowling his heart out, [Ravindra] Jadeja bowling a long spell… I don’t think without these bowlers it would have been possible. So I think all the credit has to go to the whole team.”
Under Kohli, India’s fast-bowlers have become a force to reckon with and this has given the team new wings. And then in home conditions, he has the services of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – two spinners who are absolute freaks in their own backyard. India remain overwhelming favourites to clinch the second Test match in Pune, but, Kohli’s side will be all relentless as ever.
