Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar Picture Credit: Getty Images

Virat Kohli has stepped down from captaincy in all formats and has left behind a legacy for others to match. India performed brilliantly in all three formats under Virat Kohli. But his love for red-ball cricket was what made him different altogether. He captained India in the most number of Tests and finished with the highest winning percentage (58.82 in 68 matches). He was a phenomenal leader in white-ball cricket too with a win percentage over 60% in both ODIs and T20Is.

India became an unstoppable force in red-ball cricket under Virat's leadership. Overseas victories were no more a dream and the no. 1 Test ranking became a habit for India. However, his inability to lead India to a world title worked against him and former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar considers this as a bigger factor while judging Virat's captaincy.

Manjrekar, when he was asked about rating Kohli as a captain came up with an interesting answer and said that the hype is more around Kohli because of the presence of multiple platforms. He also said that he doesn't rate Kohli as one of the great captains for his lack of results.

"I judge captains generally on international cricket and also on ICC events. Because that’s when you are really tested. When you are playing bilateral cricket, you are going to the office and coming back. There is not much pressure there," Manjrekar started his answer with this. "You live in an age where there are a lot of platforms, so the hype is more. But Indian cricket didn’t start 10 years back. These are guys that I believe have been better captains than Virat Kohli who has been very good in his own right," Manjrekar concluded with this.

Kohli led by example: Manjrekar

In between his answer to the question of rating Virat Kohli's captaincy, Sanjay Manjrekar came up with interesting facts. He did not completely rule out Virat Kohli from the list of the greatest Indian captains but he found others' records more intimidating. He was all praise for 'Kohli's captain' MS Dhoni and the reason for the same was already stated by him- results.

He further explained his views on Kohli's captaincy style and praised the latter for his 'never-say-die' attitude. "When you look at Kohli, there are a lot of things to like about him because he is somebody who led by example. The Wanderers Test match before this series, when they played on a treacherous pitch. India lost the series 2-0 but Kohli set an example as captain. He said that we want to win this despite a pitch that could have killed somebody. That kept India’s morale high. That is what you get with Virat Kohli, the never-say-die attitude," Manjrekar was quoted saying by News18.