Virat Kohli deserves credit for India’s winning mentality, believes Ian Chappell

The Men in Blue have dominated the game of cricket across all formats for some time now. They hold a commanding lead in the World Test Championship standings, too, winning their last four games by an innings. They recently came back from a humiliating loss to beat the Aussies in a three-match ODI series over Australia at home and have now registered six consecutive T20I wins. And former Aussie skipper Ian Chappell credited Indian skipper Virat Kohli for bringing the killer mentality to the side and hailed the 31-year-old for being an inspiring leader. 

“Winning has become a habit for them. As their captain in all three international formats, the versatile Virat Kohli deserves a lot of credit for creating this winning mentality. When a captain leads a side successfully on a regular basis, especially by occasionally plucking victory from the jaws of defeat, the team begin to believe he is a miracle worker. Kohli has earned the respect of the team as an inspiring leader and they expect good things to happen with him in charge,” Chappell wrote in a column for ESPNCricinfo.

The former Aussie skipper further admitted that he expected Kohli’s aggressive nature would affect the side negatively when he took over as Test captain.

“When he first became captain, especially of the Test team, I thought his highly emotional temperament might be detrimental to his leadership. Instead, he has ensured his emotions work for him and not against the team. This is in line with his clear-thinking approach to the game,” he said.

While Kohli’s eagerness to lead from the front on all aspects — including fitness — has rubbed off on the squad, Chappell noted that the 31-year-old has inspired other players, like Rohit Sharma, to adopt his style of play. Chappell also added that India can be a well-rounded team if Kohli can inspire Hardik Pandya to play to his potential.

“The fact that he has "finished off" so many of India's victory opportunities has been an inspiration to other players to adopt a similar mentality. Rohit Sharma, in particular, has benefited from Kohli's example, and his two sixes in the first Super Over win against New Zealand this week were a classic example of how self-belief has spread through the team," he said.

"If Kohli can inspire Hardik Pandya to unleash his full potential, and Pandya remains fit, India will be an extremely well-rounded team. A side that will feel confident of victory whenever they take the field,” Chappell added.