'Virat Kohli has changed the culture of the Indian cricket team,' says Shikhar Dhawan

Indian cricket team opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan on Thursday spoke about how Virat Kohli's captaincy has brought about a huge change in culture inside the Indian team.

In an Instagram Live session with Irfan Pathan, Dhawan shed light on how Virat Kohli's aggression and fitness has rubbed on all of the Indian cricket team members.

"Virat Kohli has led from the front and has changed the culture of the Indian team. He's so fit, we also feel that we need to be fit, even the fast bowlers are fit, it's a very good thing. It's great for the next generation that they will come into the team fully fit," Dhawan said.

Having made a fine impression by leading the Indian U-19 team to a title triumph in 2008, Virat Kohli slowly made his entry into the Indian cricket team and was a regular member of the side from the 2011 World Cup.

Virat Kohli led India for the first time in the Test format back in 2014 against Australia and took over the captaincy full time once MS Dhoni announced his retirement.

Under Virat Kohli's captaincy, India registered a historical 2-1 series win against Australia in Australia in January 2019, adding to his list of achievements as Indian cricket team captain.

Virat Kohli took over LOI formats captaincy in 2017

Once Dhoni stepped down from captaining the Indian cricket team in the limited-overs formats in January 2017, Virat Kohli was named as the captain and led the team to wins in the ODI and T20I series against England, his first assignment as captain.

In the ODI format, Virat Kohli has won 117 matches out of the 181 matches he has captained India, while in the T20I format, the Indian captain has won 22 out of the 37 matches.

The Indian cricket team skipper has led India in 55 matches in the longest format of the game from which he's collected 33 wins. Apart from the commendable win record, one of Virat Kohli's biggest achievements is the transformation of the pace bowlers into one of the most lethal attacks in the world, shrugging away the notion of India being overdependent on spinners across conditions.