The Indian cricket team is currently preparing for the Test series against England starting on August 4 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. As a team India skipper, Kohli is yet to win an ICC trophy, and the recent loss to New Zealand at the World Test Championship (WTC) has also raised several questions about his captaincy.
Now, in an interview, Pakistani former cricketer and commentator Shoaib Akhtar made a big statement regarding Kohli.
During an interview with Sportskeeda Akhtar said that he earlier had spoken with Kohli's wife Anushka Sharma in regards to his captaincy and told her that Kohli could face a lot of problems.
Akhtar said, "I think Virat (Kohli) has done a wonderful job as a captain. I said it to Anushka Sharma in a Sony show- 'I think Virat is making a mistake by being a captain. I knew there was a tremendous amount of pressure on him and, it would bog him down'."
He further added, "In a country like India with a population of a billion, there are around 20,000 TV sets and channels, enough to slam him. In my mind, I was thinking, 'he’s a young kid, let him score runs and play his game'."
However, looking at how Kohli's captaincy transformed team India for the better over the years, Akhtar said that he is more than happy that his assumption was wrong.
He also credited Kohli for backing his fast bowlers and inspiring a bold attitude in them.
Akhtar added, "He [Kohli] took up that challenge of being a skipper. He took it on and made sure that his replica was instilled within the fast bowlers. He wants to see his aggression in his fast bowlers. He’s not a Virat Kohli on the field, he is a fast bowler running in the form of an Ishant Sharma or a Bhuvneshwar Kumar or [Mohammed] Shami."
