On the first day of the ICC World Test Championship 2023 final between India and Australia at the Oval in London on Wednesday, former Australian player Justin Langer hailed Virat Kohli for his captaincy.
Langer credited the former Indian captain for his aggression, passion and batting abilities, calling him an ‘amazing captain’. While on air during his commentary stint for the English feed, the former opener said:
“There was nothing I didn’t like about Virat Kohli. His aggression, his passion, his batting. He was an amazing captain”.
For the uninitiated, Australia lost the 2018 Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 at home against Virat Kohli-led Team India when Langer was the head coach. The Aussies also failed to retain the 2020-21 BGT trophy at home under Langer. In Kohli’s absence after the first Test, Ajinkya Rahane guided India to a 2-1 win in that series.
Fans on Twitter came up with mixed reactions to Langer’s comments about Kohli. One tweeted:
“If such an amazing captain, then should have won at least 1 ICC trophy! VK is seriously overrated as a captain.”
Here are some of the other top Twitter reactions:
Virat Kohli is India’s most successful captain in Tests
Virat Kohli is the most successful captain for Team India in Tests. He led the team to 40 wins in 68 Tests, including 11 draws, at a win percentage of 58.82.
In away Tests, Kohli guided India to 16 wins in 36 Tests (six drawn), five more than Sourav Ganguly (11 wins). That includes a 2-1 win against Australia during the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He also helped India lead the five-match Test series 2-1 in 2021 before India lost the rescheduled fifth Test under Rohit Sharma a year later.
The Delhi-born player is only behind South Africa’s Graeme Smith (53 wins in 103 Tests), Australia’s Ricky Ponting (48 wins in 77 Tests) and Steve Waugh (41 wins in 57 Tests) in terms of wins in the longest version of the game.
Kohli also brought his best as a captain in Tests, scoring 5864 runs in 113 games at an average of 54.80, including 20 centuries.
The bowling unit, in particular, flourished under Kohli’s leadership. India took 20 wickets on 22 occasions out of a possible 35 in away Tests. The right-hander batter, though, failed to win the inaugural ICC WTC title in 2021, as New Zealand beat India by eight wickets in the final.
The 34-year-old announced his sudden retirement from Test cricket during India’s tour of South Africa later in the season.
As far as white ball captaincy is concerned, Kohli has led India to 65 wins in 95 ODIs at a win percentage of 70.43. He has also guided India to 30 wins in 50 T20Is.
Under Kohli, India reached the semifinals of the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue crashed out of the 2021 T20 World Cup in the group stage, though.
Follow WTC 2023 final live score updates here.
