Leg-spinner Karn Sharma made his Test debut for India in Kohli’s first Test as captain.
File image of Virat Kohli.© AFP
Virat Kohli oversaw arguably India’s most dominant period in Test cricket. Kohli, alongside head coach Ravi Shastri, built an era where India’s pace attack thrived and grew into one of the best in the world. Not only that, India achieved historic series wins in Australia and drew a series in England. Kohli’s aggressive captaincy influenced many players who played under him. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who made his Test debut under Kohli, heaped praise on the former India skipper’s style of leadership.
Karn, in fact, played his first and only Test in Kohli’s first-ever Test as captain, the first match in India’s tour to Australia in 2014-15. Karn recalled that Kohli’s approach towards winning had been firm right from his first game as captain.
“We were chasing over 300 runs in that match and Virat said ‘no draw. We are going to chase it down. That injected a lot of positivity among players in the dressing room,” Karn recalled, speaking on ‘Second Innings with Manjot Kalra YouTube channel.
In that Test, India had been set a mammoth target of 363 in the fourth innings. However, led by Kohli’s flamboyant 141 off 175 balls, India almost pulled off an incredible run chase, ultimately falling short by 48 runs due to a lower order collapse.
“It was a different approach. Different captains have different approaches. But his words sent a wonderful indication to the players in the dressing room, that your captain has different plans,” added Karn.
Karn also revealed that Kohli never let poor form bother his mindset. In 2014, Kohli had endured a rough patch during India’s tour to England, but he put that behind him to heap runs in Australia.
“He always gave the impression that everything is fine. Through his preparations, fitness, mental approach, Kohli never appeared too bothered or was fretting over the fact that he had a bad Test series,” said Karn.
