Virat’s the man

Virat’s the man
Former India coaches Chappell and Wright back young batsman to take over captaincy from Dhoni.

In 24 hours from now, Virat Kohli will have to stand down as India’s stand-in captain and make way for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the long-time office-holder. But you can tell it is only matter of time before the captaincy band is returned to him. The young India batsman has inspired and impressed players and experts across generations with his leadership skills.

Ian Chappell and Mark Taylor, arguably two of the greatest captains from Australia, have already sung paeans on the India No 4 and now we can tell you that even former India coaches have acknowledged his class, calibre and backed him to lead India in the future. “Kohli is the future of India,” was the refrain from both John Wright and Greg Chappell, who have given a big thumbs-up to the 26-yearold batting star.

Like his brother Ian Chappell, who has written a eulogising column on Kohli, Greg too has not held back in his appreciation for the Delhi batsman. He went to the extent of saying Kohli is a batsman of the highest calibre. “Virat is a batsman of the highest calibre,” the former India coach told Mirror. “He will be an excellent captain when his time comes.”

Australians are a hard lot to impress and Greg, in particular, who faced a lot of turbulence dealing with the senior players during his time as India coach, is definitely not an easy man to make an impact on.

With his two tons, Kohli joined Chappell in the exclusive club of captains that have scored centuries in both innings in their maiden Test as skipper. Until Saturday, the Australian was the only player with that distinction. Interestingly enough, Kohli matched Chappell’s feat in the Australian’s home town - Adelaide.

Chappell saw Kohli hammer his way into the record books in Adelaide and admitted it was one of the best knocks under pressure. The former Australia captain felt that the standout feature in Kohli’s batting is his hunger and desire to succeed. “He batted brilliantly in both innings of the Adelaide Test. This has been an exceptional feat by Virat and his determination to succeed is obvious,” Chappell explained. “His efforts will have a positive impact on the team.”

If Chappell used nouns like calibre and adjectives like excellent and brilliant for Kohli, the Australian’s predecessor as India coach, Wright, chose to highlight the cerebral qualities of the young India star with terms like passion and fighter. “He plays with passion, is a passionate player and he is a fighter. I like that,” Wright told this paper.

“The most impressive thing about him is that he does not allow the burden of captaincy to affect his batting. He is avery attacking player. He struggled in England, but looked a different batsman in Adelaide. Hopefully, he is back to his best. I know he will have to wait for his turn, but it looks certain that he is the captain in waiting.”

Under Wright’s tutelage India beat Australia in Adelaide in 2004 and the New Zealander was disappointed his former side fell short last week. Kohli’s batting, however, was the silver lining for Wright.

“In Adelaide, he led way he batted. It was a fantastic Test but it was disappointing that India could not get over the line. I saw the match and India’s chances faded after Virat got out. I thought India would get another victory in Adelaide,” Wright added.