The Indian captain, Virat Kohli took over the Test captaincy reins from former skipper MS Dhoni in 2014 and since then a lot has changed for the Test team.
Kohli has motivated his team to perform in all the conditions and the results have been palpable.
India has won two series in Australia and they are coming up with consistent performances in the foreign conditions. Most importantly, India’s fast bowling battery is one of the best in the world and they can trouble the opposition batsmen with their pace and accuracy.
The Virat Kohli-led team was also the most consistent team in the first cycle of the World Test Championship as they won 12 matches but they lost in the final against New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has always had a vision to take Indian cricket forward and Test cricket has been on the top of his list. Kohli has always paid special importance to the red-ball format and he always speaks highly of the pristine form of the game.
Former South African fast bowler Allan Donald recalled when Kohli told him in 2015 that India will become the World no.1 Test team.
In an interaction on the YouTube channel “Cricket Life Stories”, Donald said: “I remember Virat’s words in 2015 when he said to me India will become world’s No.1 Test team and he wasn’t wrong. He knew where he was going. He said: ‘I want this to be the fittest team, I want us to be the greatest team on the planet, knowing that we can play away from home, knowing we can beat anyone and that’s going to take a very good bowling attack to do so.”
There is no doubt that Kohli has taken the Indian Test team to new heights and he has played a key role in helping the bowling unit take giant strides at the top level. The Indian skipper has also paid special importance to fitness and the same has rubbed off on the shoulders on his teammates.
Meanwhile, India won the second Test match against England by 151 runs and this was Kohli’s 37th win as Test captain. Kohli is only behind Graeme Smith (53), Steve Waugh (41), Ricky Ponting (48) in the list of Test captains with the most number of wins.
