Legendary Indian batsman VVS Laxman said if anyone would be most proud of the achievement of the young Indian cricket team in Australia last month, it would be captain Virat Kohli, saying “such achievements don't happen overnight, it takes years of effort to build such team.”
Kohli played only one Test in Australia in Adelaide and returned home to attend the birth of his first child.
Then, Ajinkya Rahane took over as the stand-in captain and inspired India to a historic Test series win 2-1 over Australia facing a lot of setbacks with a young side.
In his absence, every senior player of the Team India likes R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara took the responsibility and delivered, while the newcomers Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, and T Natarajan also put all their efforts to make the entire nation proud on them and Laxman said Kohli will be very proud of his team did in Australia.
Laxman told India Today: “Firstly, I would say if anyone would be proud of the achievement of the Indian team in Australia, it will be Virat. Because this has been something that is a work in progress. Such achievements don't happen overnight. The entire system and entire structure and there is a lot of effort that goes into such an achievement. And Virat will be very proud of what the boys did in Australia.”
The former batsman also pointed out that Kohli will be very happy that he has so many leaders in the side in the likes of Rahane, Ashwin, and Rohit while calling the current Indian team a “champion side.”
He further explained, “Also, I always feel good teams have leaders. While one will be designated captain, good teams will have a core group of leaders. Virat will be very happy that he has got leaders in the form of Ajinkya, leaders in the form of Ashwin, Pujara, Rohit and that's what you want in a champion side. And this Indian team is a champion side.”
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Coming to the upcoming home Test series against England starting Friday in Chennai, Laxman said returning skipper Kohli will be eagerly waiting to contribute to Team India and score big hundreds.
He further added, “Make no mistake, Virat will be eagerly waiting to contribute to the side again. He will be wearing that India cap with a lot of pride. It really amazes me as to how a day in and day out, he still continues to play the game with so much intensity.”
Laxman signed off by saying, “Not even once I have seen Kohli take it easy when he is on a cricket field. Everyone is waiting to see Virat go out there and win matches for the country. 2020 had been a little quiet for Virat. He also knows that.
As someone who strives to achieve excellence, he will get back to scoring back hundreds. And that's what Indian team and fans want.”
