India suffered a harrowing 1-2 defeat against South Africa in the three-match Test series, and it also ruled out the chances of winning their first-ever red-ball series victory in the rainbow nation. A day after the Test series defeat against the Pros, Virat Kohli shocked the entire cricket fraternity as he stepped down as India captain in the longest format of the game.
Earlier, after the T20 World Cup 2021, he had relinquished his T20I captaincy, and later the 33-year-old was sacked from the ODI leadership as "Board of control for cricket in India" preferred a single skipper for the white-ball format. The selectors appointed Rohit Sharma as India white-ball captain, and the Indian opener is likely to succeed he as the Test skipper ahead of the red-ball series against Sri Lanka in February, he stepped down as India's most successful Test captain, winning 40 out of 68 Test matches. At home, India did not lose or draw a single Test series under the leadership of him. In (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, India won seven Tests under Kohl's captaincy, and the 33-year-old tops the list among all Asian captains in the longest format of the game. His biggest disappointment as captain was the recent series loss to South Africa after India led the away series 1-0, though he didn't captain in the middle Test of that series, in Cape Town,
Team India won 3-0 in Sri Lanka in 2017, 2-1 in Australia during the 2018-19 tour, and defeated West Indies at their home twice by 2-0, also led India to a 2-1 lead in England last year before Covid-19 issues resulted in the postponement of the final Test.
Chappell reckoned that he was an exception as captain, and the right-hand batsman lifted India to overseas success as no other captain had done.
There is no doubt he was an exception as captain, he didn't curb his enthusiasm but still able to lead the Indian team to a higher level. With the capable assistance of vice-captain Ajinkyarahane, he lifted India to overseas success like no other captain had done.
One of the great achievements was instilling in his team a craving for Test cricket. Despite his all-encompassing success, his major aim was to achieve victory in the Test arena and this is where his passion really shone, he added.
Australian great Ian Chappell has found Virat Kohli to be an exceptional captain who has carried the Indian team to a higher level, and considered England’s Joe Root a “fine batter but poor captain”.
He was recently relinquished the captaincy after India lost a Test series to the weakest-ever South African team, was sacked as ODI skipper prior to that.
However, Chappell started he was behind Rishabh Pant's success in Test cricket, and he had a number of individual achievements in his resume, none bigger than the development of pant as a wicket keeper and batter, he tended to get his way when it came to selection and some of his decisions in this area were a questionable, but there is no doubting his support of Pant was a master stroke, Chappell added.
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