If you travel to any ground around India where cricket is being played, you will see scores of young children holding bats and practising on-drives or cover drives mixed with some delectable cuts and fine leg-glances. In a city like Bengaluru, if you are embroiled in a chat that revolves around cricket, two words resonate continuously. “Virat Kohli”.
The Indian skipper’s rise from a brash young man, often criticised for his child-like behaviour, to the leader of a galaxy of stars in all formats of the game, is one to marvel at.
On the other hand, Dinesh Chandimal, who was recently handed over the reins of Sri Lanka’s Test team has enjoyed a successful career, albeit hampered by painful injuries and poor form. However, the wicketkeeper batsman is one of Sri Lanka’s most loved cricketers aside from being a vital cog in Sri Lanka’s middle order.
Following the retirement of some of Sri Lanka’s greatest players such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, the onus has often fallen on the young shoulders of Chandimal to steady the side and lead them in a time of crisis.
Come the last week of July, the two stalwarts will face each other and look to lead their respective teams from the front when India take on Sri Lanka in a Test series. In light of that, we try to compare the careers of the two skippers and see how they stand when pitted against each other.
Early path to stardom
Prior to both Kohli and Chandimal’s entry into international cricket, both of them had to deal with a lot of personal issues and battle to make it to the highest level. Chandimal lost his family to a devastating tsunami, aged just 14, while Kohli, aged 18, lost his father to a stroke.
Kohli first made headlines when he led the U-19 India team to victory in the U-19 World Cup that was held in Malaysia in 2008. He also ended as the third-highest run-getter of the tournament. Following his incredible run in the WC, he was snapped up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural IPL on a youth contract and in the very same year, found a place in the national squad as a makeshift opener.
He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 18th August 2008 and opened the innings, falling cheaply for 12. However, he notched up his first half century in the fourth match of the series and went on to play a major role in India’s series win. Three years after his ODI debut, Kohli earned a maiden call-up to the Test squad to play against the West Indies but endured a rather shoddy debut, falling cheaply for scores of 4 and 15.
Chandimal, meanwhile, walked into the Sri Lankan cricket team and found himself in the shadows of greats such as Mahela Jayawardena, Sangakkara, Dilshan etc. Chandimal played his first T20 for SL in the 2010 ICC World T20 Championship and just a couple of months later, debuted in ODIs against Zimbabwe but did not have a huge role to play.
Unlike Kohli, Chandimal did not have to wait too long to wear the Test jersey. He earned his first Test call-up in 2011 against South Africa at home and playing at No.7, the youngster churned out consecutive half-centuries on debut and also kept wickets for the team. Since then, he’s been an integral part of the SL team whenever he’s been deemed fit to play.
Transition through the years
Picked in 2008, Kohli was not a regular in the side during his initial years, often acting as a cover for Tendulkar and Sehwag. However, in the following couple of years, Kohli made optimum use of the opportunities presented to him. He was in good form right through the series against Australia and emerged as the highest run-getter in the Tri-Series tournament held in Bangladesh.
With a strong start to his young career, Kohli rapidly rose up the ladder and soon was a regular member of the Indian limited-overs setup. A couple of years later, he was named the Test skipper following MS Dhoni’s retirement.
Chandimal, on the other hand, did well to eventually step into the big shoes of middle-order duo Sangakkara and Jayawardena. The dynamic middle-order batsman scored his maiden ODI century against India in 2010 and rose to fame when he showed excellent prowess with the bat on tours to South Africa and Australia.
However, a drastic drop in form saw him miss out on a majority of the home games in 2012. Soon enough though, he got back to form with a half-century in a Test match and created headlines when he became Sri Lanka’s youngest captain at the young age of 23.
While Kohli and Chandimal settled into their roles at almost similar times, the Indian’s consistency meant he created more of a name for himself.
Rise to captaincy and memorable knocks
In the absence of many main players, Kohli was named the vice-captain for the tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in 2010. One of his best knocks came against Sri Lanka in 2011, though, during the Commonwealth Bank Series, when he scored a quickfire 133 off 86 balls including 24 runs off speedster Lasith Malinga.
Coming in with the score at 86/2 and the target 321, Kohli took matters into his own hands and took India home with 13 overs to spare. The innings took social media by storm and was rated “One of the greatest ODI innings” by Dean Jones. Soon enough, Kohli was named Dhoni's deputy for the Asia Cup in 2012 and captained India in the triangular series played in West Indies in Dhoni’s absence.
Subsequently, following Dhoni’s retirement in 2014, he became India's full-time Test captain. Under his captaincy, India held on to the numero uno position in Tests for a substantial period of time. The poster boy of Indian cricket, he is also the full-time captain of India’s ODI and T20 sides apart from captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.
Chandimal, unlike Kohli, has had a roller-coaster career as captain. At the young age of 23, he was made the captain of the Sri Lankan T20 team and led the team in the 2014 T20 World Cup. However, he was fined for slow over rate and an injury meant Lasith Malinga had to take over from him.
Nonetheless, Chandimal has been an integral part of Sri Lanka's middle-order and one of his best performances came against Australian when he equalled the record for the most number of half-centuries on the trot by a Sri-Lankan, scoring five of them in 2016.
Crunching the numbers
While Kohli has been in phenomenal touch across formats since 2016, Chandimal has not had the best of times in T20s and the numbers clearly do not do justice to the class of the right-hander. For a stats-lover, Kohli seems like the obvious choice to pip Chandimal across all three formats.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | 50s/100s |
| Tests | 57 | 4497 | 49.41 | 16/14 |
| ODI | 189 | 8257 | 54.68 | 43/28 |
| T20s | 49 | 1748 | 52.96 | 16/0 |
Kohli’s numbers can be slightly overwhelming. In just 295 matches, the flamboyant right-hander has amassed 42 centuries with a very healthy average and an excellent strike rate. He averages more than Chandimal across all three formats but while Kohli has excelled in Asian conditions, he has faltered quite often while playing abroad. Chandimal, on the other hand, has done well abroad but at home his records are not the greatest.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | 50s/100s |
| Test | 36 | 2540 | 42.33 | 11/8 |
| ODI | 128 | 3211 | 33.44 | 21/4 |
| T20s | 48 | 720 | 18.00 | 4/0 |
When 26th July 2017 dawns upon us, the two captains will face off against each other for the first time.
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