Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has kept Virat Kohli out of his 'India's greatest captains' list. He picked India's World Cup-winning captain, MS Dhoni, at the top of the list.
Speaking in an interview with News 18, Manjrekar said the outcome in the ICC events mattered the most when it came to judging captains. Dhoni is currently the most successful Indian captain in ICC events with three titles under his belt.
Dhoni-led Team India have won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, followed by World Cup 2011 in their home, and Champions Trophy 2013 in England.
"MS Dhoni is clearly one of India’s greatest captains. I judge captains generally on international cricket and also on ICC events. Because that’s when you are really tested. When you are playing bilateral cricket, you are going to the office and coming back. There is not much pressure there. But ICC events, that is where Dhoni has been tremendous. Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Saurav Ganguly, and Virat Kohli," he said.
Kohli took over India's limited-overs captaincy in 2017 and led the team to Champions Trophy 2017 final, World Cup 2019 semi-final, and T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 exit.
The 33-year-old has a better record in Test format, with a series win in Australia, runner-up of World Test Championship 2021, and 2-1 lead in the Test series against England, before the final match was postponed.
"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. 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 said.
Manjrekar further named Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, and Sunil Gavaskar in his list of great Indian captains. "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. Sourav Ganguly after the match-fixing era gave India some overseas wins.
"Sunil Gavaskar also. So these are all great leaders. 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," he said.
(With News 18 Inputs)
