Karn Sharma reveals how Virat Kohli changed the attitude of the team as captain

Virat Kohli took over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni in the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia in 2014-15.

Karn Sharma reveals how Virat Kohli changed the attitude of the team as captain

Virat Kohli, Karn Sharma (Via X)

Virat Kohli took over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni in the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia in 2014-15. He captained the first Test match in Adelaide when Dhoni was absent and then became the full time Test captain from the 4th match in Sydney, when Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket. Recently, veteran leg-spinner Karn Sharma revealed how Kohli changed the mindset of the team after becoming Team India’s captain.

Sharma talked about how Kohli wanted to go for the runs while chasing the big score in his first Test match as captain in Adelaide and led from the front. He talked about how Kohli set up the mindset from the very first game in charge that the team will go for the win only and draw will be the last resort.

YouTube video
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. 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.
Karn Sharma said while speaking on Manjot Kalra’s YouTube channel
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Karn Sharma said that Virat Kohli led from the front with his approach and his fitness

Sharma said that Kohli set up an example to follow for the others in his team with his hunger to score runs, his batting approach and his fitness regime. The whole team changed and reacted to his aggressive attitude. Kohli changed the attitude of his team from the very first game, by going for the target in Adelaide.

Karn Sharma revealed how Virat Kohli changed the attitude of the team as captain
Virat Kohli ( Via X)

On a tricky pitch against the mighty Australians, Virat Kohli took the attack to the bowlers and scored 141 runs. However, despite his effort, his team fell short but it paved the way for what was to follow. Under Kohli, the team went abroad, fought hard and won Test matches and series. He became one of India’s greatest ever Test captain.

Although, Kohli has not won any ICC trophy, he has a sensational captaincy record. He led Team India to their first Test series win in Australia in the 2018 Border-Gavaksar Trophy. He led India to a 2-1 lead against England in the 2021 series in England before the final Test match was postponed for COVID-19 outbreak. Kohli led the Indian team to the semifinal of the ODI World Cup 2019 and to the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2021.

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