Ample quality options to choose from makes Virat Kohli successful as captain, opines Monty Panesar
Former England cricketer Monty Panesar is of the opinion that it’s the availability of a pool of quality players in the Indian cricket setup that makes Virat Kohli a successful captain. Panesar also believes that with this pace attack, India will be able to beat the Kiwis in New Zealand.
Panesar is not done with cricket yet and hopes to train with the Northants (Northamptonshire) once he is back to England. The veteran spinner, who is in India to promote his book on his cricketing career, is of the belief that there’s an opportunity for Virat Kohli’s team India to pull off the greatness resembling the Windies giants in the ‘80s. He lauded the way the team performed in Australia in the 2018-19 tour down under. With it, he believes, India are one their way to the helm.
“I think there's an opportunity for India to do that. India can become as good as the teams in the '80s and the Australia of the '90s if they perform well away from India. They have started doing that. The maiden Test series win in Australia is one example,” Monty Panesar was quoted as saying by the TOI.
There’s been a transfer of dominance from the Indian spinners to the pace department in Kohli’s team. And Panesar believes it’s the team’s success that matters and not which department does what. He also reckons that the success comes from the number of options the Indian skipper has up his sleeve.
“As long as India are winning, that's the main thing. He (Kohli) has got options, hasn't he? He can play finger-spin, he can play wrist-spin. It doesn't really matter as long as they win. So I think he's probably just picking the team on whoever is performing well. And then if they're not performing that well, then he would pick another group of players,” Monty opined.
“The reason that he's doing well is because he knows he has a group of, let's say, 15 to 20 players he can pick from. And he knows they will all perform well.”
However, Panesar also believes that it was Kohli who developed the dynamics in the team and helped the pace department get to where it stands today. With India’s tour of New Zealand starting late in January 2020, Panesar believes India will be able to beat the Kiwis in their den.
"I think he (Kohli) has changed the team dynamics, the fitness of the players. The seam department is a lot better now. I think what West Indies of the '80s and Australia of the '90s did was that when they played away, they didn't just win once, they did that again (and again). India have got this tour of New Zealand happening and they need to win there because you don't want people to think that was just a one-off (overseas) series win. Australia may not happen again but New Zealand is a lot easier, isn't it? Virat Kohli has got a good seam attack now. So they should beat New Zealand in New Zealand.
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