Manoj Tiwari calls Kohli's leadership record as 'phenomenal'

Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwari believes that Ajinkya Rahane can be a very good substitute to Virat Kohli as an Indian skipper but wants him to be more consistent as a batsman. Ajinkya Rahane hasn’t been in the best of form since India’s tour to New Zealand in 2020 and averages a mere 27.69 in 7 Tests. The average drops to 20.66 if we exclude his match winning hundred at Melbourne against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Advertisment

Tiwari in an interview with Sportkeeda said, “ “Whatever little I saw in Australia, Ajinkya Rahane was very good. He made the bowling changes quite well. You don’t need to be a quiet guy to be a good captain; you can be expressive too. The difference is in their style. Rahane’s captaincy style is very different from what we see from Virat Kohli. 

“If allowed to lead India, I am sure Rahane will do a good job. I don’t know when that time will come. He has to score consistently to keep away the talks of him getting dropped from the Test side.”

He further opined on the debate of the better captain between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane and called the former’s leadership skills as ‘phenomenal. Kohli has a scintillating record as skipper and is only behind Graeme Smith(48), Ricky Ponting(53), Steve Waugh(41) and Clive Lloyd (36) in terms of most wins as a Test captain.

Advertisment

“As far as his (Virat Kohli’s) aggression is concerned, it does help the team and pumps the others as well, especially when the crowd is present. But having said that, the recent defeats under him make you feel that he could have done a few things differently. Then again, when you look at his record, it’s phenomenal. As a captain, he has an incredible win percentage.

“At the end of the day, a captain is as good as his team. If your teammates are doing well, then the job gets easier, and when the plans are falling apart, you feel the pressure.

“As far as Rahane is concerned, he did mention that Virat is the captain of the team. He did the right thing. We should not have a controversy within the team. The team knows that Virat Kohli is the captain of the side and when he isn’t around, it’s Rahane,” added Manoj Tiwary