"He is the most successful Indian Test captain" - Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli's contribution as a Test skipper

Former India player Aakash Chopra has opined that Virat Kohli wrote a new chapter as the Indian team's Test skipper. He pointed out that Kohli is not only India's most successful captain in the longest format, but also gave the team the winning attitude.

Kohli recently announced his retirement from Test cricket. India won 40 of the 68 Tests they played under his leadership, drawing 17 and losing 11. Only Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48) and Steve Waugh (41) have registered more Test wins as captains.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the cricketer-turned-commentator noted that Kohli's urge to play for a win, which he demonstrated from his first game as captain, made him India's most successful Test skipper.

"I think he wrote a new chapter. He is the most successful Indian Test captain, there is no doubt about that. However, he came up with a doctrine that you will either win or lose. There is no middle path, and he showed that in the first match, the Adelaide match, where he captained for the first time," he said (8:00).

The former India opener recalled Kohli playing attacking bowlers like Varun Aaron and Karn Sharma and attempting to chase a massive fourth-innings target in the 2014 Adelaide Test.

"He said he would play five bowlers. He said he would play Varun Aaron as he bowls at 150 kph and Karn Sharma because leg-spin works there. It wasn't about right or wrong, but about the thought process, what he needs to do to pick up 20 wickets," Chopra observed.

"It's okay if you lose, but you need to definitely try to win. I think they were chasing close to 400 in the fourth innings, but he didn't give up. Till Wriddhiman Saha, he said we would go and wouldn't bother about losing because luck favors you when you don't have the fear of defeat in your mind, and he showed that repeatedly," he added.

Australia set India a 364-run target in the 2014 Adelaide Test. Although Virat Kohli scored 141 runs off 175 deliveries and added 185 runs for the third wicket with Murali Vijay (99 off 234) to take India to 242/2 at one stage, a late-order collapse meant the visitors were bowled out for 315, losing the game by 48 runs.

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"He wrote a new template for India in Test cricket" - Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli's five-bowler theory as skipper

India's seam attack flourished under Virat Kohli's captaincy. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra credited Virat Kohli for adopting a five-bowler template in Test cricket.

"He wrote a new template for India in Test cricket, that we always go with five bowlers. Why do we do that? We didn't used to do that earlier because draw was okay then. Now we were saying that we will either win or lose. Draw is not okay, and that is Virat Kohli's contribution," he said (8:50).

The analyst added that Kohli's inclination to go with a bowler-heavy playing combination was instrumental in making him a successful Test captain.

"It's not a coincidence that he became the most successful Test captain. He will be if he has given birth to a new template and taken it forward. So his contribution as a Test captain is absolutely immense for Indian Test cricket and Test cricket in general. He never let you feel that the match was going out of hand because he was always thinking that a bad situation would change. He has walked the talk," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra pointed out that Virat Kohli put more pressure on himself as a batter by playing five bowlers. He added that the former India captain could have taken the easier route by playing an extra batter, but wanted to go for a win as drawing the game wasn't an option.