Kapil Dev: India under Kohli more aggressive than the team of the 80s

The Test captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli, has already received several accolades for his attacking brand of captaincy, and deservedly so. The 27-year-old, who took over from MS Dhoni as the captain in the five-day format after the latter retired from Test cricket in December 2014, is yet to lose a Test series as a full-time captain of the side. Out of the 14 Tests that Kohli has played as the skipper of the Indian side, India have lost just three.

Recalling these achievements, and after observing Kohli captain India for more than a year now, legendary India all-rounder and former captain, Kapil Dev, while heaping praises upon the incumbent India captain, said that the team under Kohli’s leadership is more aggressive in its approach than the team he used to lead in the 1980s.

“Virat Kohli is a new captain with the thought process that we have to be very aggressive. Aggression wasn't a part of Indian team back in the 80's. (The) Need of the hour is you have to be aggressive and hard and Kohli is one,” the 1983 World Cup-winning captain told NDTV in an interview.

Tough for New Zealand to come to India and win: Dev

While Kohli has mellowed down, as far as his body language is concerned, the intent of aggressive leadership now shows up in the way he goes about the team composition and the way he executes the plans that are being discussed in the dressing room.

For instance, the approach of playing the game with five specialist bowlers wasn’t a common occurrence in the Indian cricketing circles until Kohli arrived on the scene and made it clear that Test matches can be won with five specialist batsmen and a wicketkeeper-batsman in the side.

Another example of the captain’s aggressive mindset and his ability to take risks is the promotion of Ravichandran Ashwin in the batting order – in a bid to develop him as a genuine all-rounder that the team has been looking for – something that we observed on a regular basis during the recently-concluded Test series in the West Indies.

India won the last Test series that they played – a four-match affair against the West Indies in the Caribbean

A brilliant all-rounder in his own merit, Dev was, at one point in time, India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests, with his 434 wickets. In addition to that, the Haryana-born cricketer also scored 5248 runs from 131 Tests at an average of 31.09.

However, Kohli has also been helped by the familiar conditions that have been at his disposal, especially during the Tests in the subcontinent. Against South Africa, last year, during the four-Test series, the wickets prepared for the matches were extremely spinner-friendly, with some of them offering prodigious turn as early as on Day 1.

“Tough for New Zealand to come to India and win here, but international cricketers know foreign conditions better these days because they play around the world. That will be an advantage for the Kiwis,” Kapil added.

Another Indian legend, who played his last Test series alongside Kohli, VVS Laxman, has time and again praised his former teammate for his achievements on the field.

Talking about the luxuries that Kohli enjoys as the captain, Laxman quipped, “Virat Kohli is in a very enviable position where he has got a very balanced side, batting department, fast bowling department and spin department, so it is going to be a really challenging task for New Zealand.”

India’s next assignment would be the three-match Test series against New Zealand, with the first Test – which would also be India’s 500^th – beginning on September 22 at the Green Park Stadium, Kanpur.

This Test would mark the beginning of a long home season, wherein India are scheduled to play as many as 13 Tests against New Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh.

Kohli, at 27 years of age, has 3245 runs from 45 Tests at an average of 45.06, and is touted as one of the world’s leading batsmen across all formats.