Virat Kohli needs to translate India captaincy success to IPL, says Kumar Sangakkara
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Kumar Sangakkara has said that Virat Kohli has been incredibly successful as India skipper, and he needs to transfer his success in international cricket to IPL. He has also differentiated the contrast in MS Dhoni and Kohli's captaincy, where one takes a backseat, and the other one is very involved.
Virat Kohli, the captain of the Royal Challenger Bangalore since 2011, has been incredibly outstanding with the bat and has scored almost 5000 runs for them. However, his captaincy gives a contrasting picture, as
"It seems to have worked for India. They have won the series in Australia recently. They have been strong at home, although they did lose to Australia recently because of some individual brilliance from some Australian players. But overall the last two years have been
"So at the international level Kohli has been very successful. He now needs to transfer that at IPL level," the former Sri Lanka captain added.
Sangakkara also implied that, in a way, captaining an IPL side is more difficult than captaining an international side.
"It's a whole different ball game because it's a mash of different cultures with players around the world and it really tests your man management skills. Also your ability to trust and never second guess why you have selected that player in the first place," he expressed.
MS Dhoni and Kohli are both very successful, and easily the most talked about captains in Indian cricket. Dhoni has all the trophies in his cabinet, he has won the IPL, Champions League, Champions Trophy, the T20 and the ODI World Cup.
"They are two different styles of players. Two different personalities. Goes to show to find a successful captain in terms of results, there are
The Sri Lankan great also spoke about the specifics of the two captains, based on what he has observed over the years.
"Both are fantastic players. Fantastic individuals. Great
"Kohli on the other hand, almost bats and bowls for his players because he is that much invested in that particular moment. But it's going to be an interesting matchup for both the sides opening up. It's never going to be an easy game," he said, as he signed off.
The first match of the IPL makes for a mouth-watering contest as Kohli and Dhoni's teams will face off each other on March 23 at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
