India’s star batter, Virat Kohli, was involved in an interview with head coach, Gautam Gambhir, ahead of the start of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai. BCCI arranged that interview and both of them opened up on their memories of their respective careers. Kohli recalled the moment when he became the captain of the Indian Test team during the Border-Gavaskar series in 2014-15.
He stated that he was excited to lead the side and take on the challenge in Test cricket. The team was transitioning at that moment due to the retirement of many stalwarts and it was a young team. Kohli recalled that when Dhoni retired from Test cricket, he got the chance to lead the team with the same age group as his. It was in this way that they became big names in Test cricket.
“The thing that excited me about Test cricket and when I had the chance to lead the Test side, was the challenge. We were transitioning then, when you guys had made way for a younger team, and Mahi bhai had left captaincy. For me it was like, I am 25 and I have this team of 24-25 year olds, and how do we become a team that become household names like you guys became,” Kohli told Gambhir in their interaction released by the BCCI.
“We needed good fast bowlers, batters who can bat long“- Virat Kohli
Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, India won 40 Tests of out 68 (Image Credits: X)
Kohli also went on to say that he and his team adopted a mentality and point of view of seeing Indian cricket succeed in a seven years time. For that to happen, they had to assemble a group of world class bowlers and batters who could bat for longer periods of time.
He wanted to give the responsibility to five batters and the wicketkeeper to take India to 350 and 400, so that they can play with five premier bowlers.
“When I started thinking from the point of view where Indian cricket has to be in seven years time, the solutions came. We needed good fast bowlers, batters who can bat long, needed to give ownership to the five batters and the keeper to get 350-400 runs,” he elaborated.
Virat Kohli changed the mindset of the Test team and emerged as the greatest Indian captain in Test cricket. The team revolutionized under him, showed the fighting spirit and went to overseas situations to win Test matches for the side.
