Asia Cup 2022: "Team was not that aggressive under Virat Kohli, but is under Rohit Sharma," opines Aakash Chopra

Team India are yet to lose a white-ball series under Rohit since he took charge as full-time skipper.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma | Getty

Former cricketer Aakash Chopra recently compared the captaincy styles of Virat Kohli and the current all-format skipper Rohit Sharma.

Rohit took over as the T20I captain post the T20 World Cup 2021 after Kohli’s resignation. He was named the Test skipper earlier this year after Virat decided to step down and took over as ODI captain post his predecessor’s sacking.

Since then, the Indian team has performed exceptionally well under Sharma's leadership, defeating England in ODI and T20I series by 2-1 and smashing the West Indies in a recent T20I series (4-1). 

Despite not winning an ICC championship, India did have a lot of success across formats under Kohli, and they were a force to reckon with.

However, Chopra remarked that though Virat has always been aggressive, the team wasn’t very aggressive in their approach under his captaincy.

"Virat Kohli's big focus was - 'I want to do this.' It was a lot about wanting to set an example. Virat Kohli was very very aggressive on the field, in your face, never taking a backward step, but the team was not that aggressive under Virat Kohli," he said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.

"That's a very interesting bit that he was himself very aggressive but the team was not aggressive. There could be multiple reasons for that. He talked about intent many times but we saw [Cheteshwar] Pujara getting run out twice in one match. So the 'intent' word was perhaps not understood correctly," he added.

SEE ALSO:  “I am there to answer them,” Shikhar Dhawan open to help youngsters during the ODI tour

Aakash Chopra opined that although Rohit may not be as animated as his predecessor, his leadership allows the team to play with a lot of freedom and aggression.

"Rohit Sharma is a very interesting character as a captain. The one thing I like about him a lot is that when you meet Rohit Sharma or see him on the ground, he doesn't look animated but the team that plays under him attacks," he said.

"We have seen that they play with freedom or you can say aggression. The main reason for that is he gives confidence to the team, that they have made a philosophy, they will play according to that, and that he is standing behind the players and will not let them get dropped," he remarked further.

The Men in Blue’s next big assignment is the Asia Cup 2022 in the UAE, which starts on August 27.

(TIMES NOW INPUTS)

 

 
 

By Abhishek Ghan - 17 Aug, 2022

    Share Via