Team India has dominated red-ball cricket for the last 6-7 years since Virat Kohli took the captaincy. India remained at the top of the rankings for five consecutive years, and Virat led the team to immense success in SENA countries, which it had never done before.
That’s what veteran Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has to say. The 34-year-old said that Virat Kohli was the best captain he played under. Notably, since Zaheer Khan retired from international cricket, it was Ishant who took charge and managed the workload of the Indian pace attack in test cricket.
Ishant is only the second pacer after Kapil Dev to play more than 100 tests for India, and most of these games came under Virat Kohli. Recently, in a discussion on the Jio Cinema show ‘Home of Heroes, Ishant said that Virat was the best captain and that when India played under MS Dhoni, it was a transition period.
Ishant said, “Virat was the best. When he was captain, bowling was complete. When we were playing under Mahi Bhai, we were in a transition phase. The best thing Virat did was identify everyone’s traits; he used to talk about one thing with one person and then let them be.”
As a test captain, Virat had a winning percentage of 63.38, while Dhoni had 53.61. Ishant stated that the biggest plus under Virat was that he was an aggressive captain and wanted bowlers to go for wickets despite going for runs. Under Virat, the Indian pace attack was the best with Ishant, Bumrah, and Shami and won matches in SENA countries.
The pacer added that Virat used to talk with his bowler and define certain roles in the bowling attack. The pacer said, “After 2021, I realized he wanted all of us to think outside the box.” Ishant has played 105 tests for India and has taken 311 wickets at 32.40, with a best of 7/74.
