‘Virat Kohli had a direction, but was sacked’ – Former Pakistan cricketer’s take on Indian captaincy issues

The Indian team was a force to reckon with under the leadership of Virat Kohli. From January 2017 to September 2021, the star cricketer was the leader of the Indian side across all formats of the game. The 34-year-old had attained the captaincy of the Indian Test team in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2014/15. In the period of Virat, India reached the peak of cricket.  

India won the Test series in Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, and won all the home Test series under his tenure as a Test captain. The history was created when the Indian team won their first-ever away Test series in Australia. In ODIs, India won their first-ever bilateral series in Australia and South Africa in their own backyard. India also won the ODI series against New Zealand in New Zealand.   

India lost the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the Semifinal of the 2019 ODI World Cup under Virat’s captaincy. In T20Is, India won the bilateral series in England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia under the captaincy of Kohli. India lost the 2021 T20 World Cup in Kohli’s tenure. In September 2021, India decided to sack Virat from T20I captaincy.  

‘The team could not perform due to internal issues’ – Former Pakistan cricketer

The men in the administration did not provide proper reasons for sacking the star cricketer from captaincy. Kohli said he did not have proper communication with the people in power. Talking about the incident, former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif said that India mistreated Kohli.   

“Virat Kohli had a direction and he wanted to win, but he was sacked. The team couldn’t perform due to internal issues. They couldn’t perform in ICC tournaments because, maybe, the captain didn’t get the desired players. Or maybe he got it, but they weren’t used,” said Latif. Their team is still pretty good; they will get a no.4. The problem begins when the top-3 get dismissed quickly. If the top-3 play out the 25-30 overs, they will win easily. Their issue is the top-3 isn’t performing how it used to,” said the former Pakistani cricketer.