Which Test Team was More Balanced – MS Dhoni’s or Virat Kohli’s?

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Which Test team was more balanced – MS Dhoni’s or Virat Kohli’s ?

MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli – Who will be the Better Captain that is the Question

Internet Desk: Although it took them seven long years to reclaim the coveted number one spot in the ICC Test Rankings, the manner in which Virat Kohli’s Men in Blue displaced their arch rivals, Pakistan from the top of the rankings, courtesy to a thumping 3-0 series whitewash against the Kiwis at home left millions of their fans all across the globe hungry for more of a similar aggressive performance of Test cricket.

Team India had previously reached at the helm of the ICC Test rankings back in 2009 during the Mahendra Singh Dhoni era. The inaugural World T20 winning captain had taken over the charge of the side from the legendary leg-spinner and current national coach, Anil Kumble in 2007-08. Although a makeshift captain, MS Dhoni delivered his first Test as a skipper in style as his team crushed South Africa by 8 wickets at Kanpur.

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Team Dhoni | FIle Picture

The charismatic wicket-keeper-batsman from Ranchi was anointed as the official Test captain of Team India in 2008, midway in a series versus Australia and since then went on a magnificent winning spree against the likes of England, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies amongst others to take his country to the number one position in ICC Test Rankings, merely within a year of taking over.

Virat Kohli – on the other hand – took over the Test captaincy baton from MS Dhoni a couple of years ago in 2014 and has since tried to lead his side in a Sourav Ganguly-esque aggressive manner. Kohli as a captain always tries to lead his boys by example and his almost match-winning 115 and 141 in a single Test match against the Aussies in Adelaide are still afresh in the memory of the Indian cricket aficionados.

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Team Kohli | Image : ICC

In the 17 Test matches that he has captained Team India, Virat Kohli had gone on to score five spectacular centuries which includes a couple of double centuries against the West Indies. The 27-year-old from New Delhi has also led his national side to nine Test victories out of the 17 matches that it has played under him. However, since the ‘Men in Blue’ are poised to feature in a total of ten more home Test matches in the near future, fans believe it won’t be too long since Captain Kohli’s figure of nine Test victories will escalate to that of nineteen.

All being said and done, many people argue that one should acknowledge Virat Kohli’s leadership quality more than that of MS Dhoni simply because the latter had a set team when he took over as the captain of the Indian Test side. With the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan stepping out on the field by his side, MS Dhoni might have had his work a lot more cut out than that of Virat Kohli.

It is true that Virat Kohli did have a young and inexperienced side to start with. Also, having to fill in the boots of one of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket – without a shade of doubt – is an extremely difficult job to undertake especially in a cricket crazy country like India. But the way he has shown his mettle while creating his own set of cricketing legends like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja to name a few is worthy of a standing ovation.

It is now to be seen whether the former Indian Test captain Sourav Ganguly was right when he had said, “Team India’s future is bright under Virat Kohli.” Only time will tell.

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