Sanjay Manjrekar explains why Virat Kohli is not among India’s greatest captains

Virat Kohli, who recently stepped down from the captaincy of the Indian Test team, signed off as India’s most successful skipper in the longest format. Kohli won 40 out of 68 Tests as captain – most by an Indian in the history of the game.

Kohli could have become one of the greatest captains of all-time in Test history had he continued for a few more years. His decision to give up the from Test captaincy came as a shock to his fans and cricket pundits but Kohli has already left behind a legacy that will be hard to match for any Indian Test captain in coming years.

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has reviewed Kohli’s stint in the top job and praised his never-say-die-attitude.

“When you look at Kohli, there are a lot of things to like about him because he is somebody who led by example. The Wanderers Test match before this series, when they played on a treacherous pitch. India lost the series 2-0 but Kohli set an example as captain,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying to News18.

“He said that we want to win this despite a pitch that could have killed somebody. That kept India’s morale high. That is what you get with Virat Kohli, the never-say-die attitude. In the World Test Championship final India lost. But till the last minute India through Virat Kohli was still fighting to salvage the game. But finally, you’ve got to talk about the results. The results were not coming.”

Manjrekar further claimed that Kohli does not rank among India’s greatest ever captains for him while saying MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar beat him in this category.

“So when we talk about all-time greats, it would be very unfair to not count Dhoni in that. Kapil Dev at a time when there was an inferiority complex at the world level. Saurav Ganguly after the match-fixing era gave India some overseas wins. Sunil Gavaskar also. So these are all great leaders,” added Manjrekar.

“You live in an age where there are a lot of platforms, so the hype is more. But Indian cricket didn’t start 10 years back. These are guys that I believe have been better captains than Virat Kohli who has been very good in his own right,” concluded the cricketer-turned-analyst.