By: Sandipan Bose
It the beginning of judgement day for ace cricketer Virat Kohli, who finally led India officially for the first time in ODI cricket and also led from the front. Of course the testing grounds were new.
It was against a different England team compared to a depleted Test side. Evidently though, the Indian bowlers were absolutely clueless after their debutant ODI captain won the toss and chose to field first.
England, practically, decimated the Indian attack and sent them on a leather hunt. Though cricket is about a team on the field. Kohli certainly was the centre of attention. After England made a mammoth 350, the Delhi dasher came out with a blinder.
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He batted as if he was possessed and completely took control of the centre-stage. With some clean hitting of the cricket ball, alongwith local boy Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav also outscored his captain at certain stages of the game.
Rewind to Kohli’s predecessor MS Dhoni’s performance. When he was made the ODI captain before the 2007 ODI home series against Australia. Who can forget that Dhoni was made the ODI captain after winning the inaugural the World T20 championship in South Africa!
Like Kohli, Dhoni was young. Though the Australians did ensure that Dhoni’s men don’t get it easy. They made the game challenging with every strike and delivery.
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In the first match in Bangalore, Dhoni lost his first toss as the captain of the ODI team. Australia made most of the Indian attack. With the likes of Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan in the pace line-up, India struggled to put pressure on the Aussies.
It set the tone of the series even after the opening game was washed out when India came out to bat. Later in the second tie, Dhoni did win the toss, asked Australia to bat first and eventually lost the game by 84 runs.
India’s bad spell continued under Dhoni even in the third game. By the time, India won the fourth match of the series, it was too late for the hosts to come back strong into the seven-match series.
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Eventually, the series ended in Mumbai, Australia had blanked India by a 4-2 margin. That time, everyone came in support of Dhoni. They talked about how he would come of age.
Even deep down inside, he knew that the road ahead would be tough but a fighter like him was prepared for it. It was this preparation and tenacity that propelled him to become one of the best captains in the history of Indian cricket.
Coming back to Kohli. He has just begun his journey as the captain of the ODI team with a bang. The fans’ expectations must have sky-rocketed. Dhoni was made the captain of the ODI team after winning the World T20.
Kohli too has been bestowed with captaincy after India has become a top Test team under his leadership. But as they say, time is the best judge. So, till the ground is fresh, and everybody is in action, we are ready to laud our new captain. And when one match is not enough to win a series, let’s wish him luck till then!
