Ex-India coach Sanjay Bangar bats for Virat Kohli, says ’should have continued for longer as a Test captain’

India's star batter Virat Kohli is considered to be the best in modern history and is feared by all the cricketing nations. Not only in ODIs, but critics, former cricketers and current players bow down to his fierce style of cricket.

With Kohli stepping as India's Test captain after the 2022 Test series against South Africa, former India's coach Sanjay Bangar claimed the star batter should have continued for a longer period as a red-ball captain.

What stats says?

After being appointed India's Test captain during the 2014/15 tour of Australia, Kohli had not disappointed.

Kohli led India to 40 Test wins, and is in the list of most successful skippers following Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48), and Steve Waugh (41).

He also surpassed legendary MS Dhoni (27 wins) in 2019, becoming India's most successful Test captain. As Test captain, Kohli scored 5,864 runs at an average of 54.80.

What Bangar said?

According to Sanjay Bangar, Kohli stepped down way too soon. Speaking on the Rao podcast, as quoted by Hindustan Times, Bangar said, "I personally feel that he should have continued for longer as a Test captain because he probably captained India in 65 Test matches, and one of the things I feel is that he could have probably continued as a Test captain for a longer period."

Bangar was one of the coach when Kohli led the Indian side. He stated that Kohli focused on producing positive results with the team in overseas conditions as they were already a dominant unit at home.

"Virat was driven with the fact that India had to improve their performances overseas. Because in India we knew that whether anybody is there or not, with all due respect to the opposition, if you come to India, India is winning 75 per cent of the time. You'll really have to play poorly to lose in India," he added.

Speaking on how Kohli brought a fitness revolution in Indian cricket , Bangar said, "He himself achieved enormous levels of fitness and challenged his physical limits to the hilt. He worked the hardest. I think he scored the maximum runs during that period as a captain and he had that drive."