Former India opener Gautam Gambhir lauded the winning mindset of Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and said earlier captains like Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni had “defensive approach to draw test matches”.
Speaking on Star Sports during the second Test of the ongoing three-match series between India and South Africa, Gambhir said, “I support Virat’s decision of 5 bowlers. Look I’ve played a lot under MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly but all had that defensive mindset to draw test matches instead of winning.”
The 37-year-old cricketer-turned-politician further praised Kohli’s mindset of always going for the win, either at home or away. “Virat has a mindset of winning test matches either at home or overseas!” Gambhir added.
In just 50 matches as captain, he has led the team to victory on 30 occasions and boasts of a magnificent win percentage of above 58, the highest among all the other active Test captains. While Dhoni has 27 wins under his belt in 60 matches, Ganguly captained India to 21 wins in 49 matches.
Such has been the magnificence of Kohli’s captaincy that in last 11 matches with the red ball, India have won nine, drawn one and lost one. Also to mention, among the nine wins, four have come on foreign soil, including the two which helped India register their first-ever Test series victory in Australia.
Kohli’s latest wins have come against the West Indies and South Africa. In the second Test match of South Africa’s 2019 tour of India, Kohli became the first-ever Indian captain to enforce a follow-on on the Proteas. The Indian team under him also became the first team, after 2008, to achieve the feat.
While the burden of captaincy often affects the personal game of the players, for the 30-year-old it has been blessing in disguise. He is currently the highest run-getter among all the active captains and already finds himself placed sixth in the list of highest runs scored by a Test skipper. His career has seen him scoring seven double centuries and all have come after he took over the reins of captaincy from Dhoni.