New Delhi: India defeated Australia by three wickets in the fourth and final Test in Brisbane to win the four-match series 2-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy under the captaincy of stand in skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane & Co make a scripting a comeback after being bowled out for 36 in the Adelaide Test Despite all odds an win the series 2-1 without the service of their regular captain Virat Kohli.
While Rahane’s calm and composed leadership of India in their stunning Test triumph over Australia earned a lot of praise from all over. There were a few that deemed it to criticise regular captain Virat Kohli. India bowling coach Bharat Arun responded to Kohli’s critics and said that people tend to forget what he has done for the team during his time as captain.
“First thing, I would like to congratulate Ajinkya Rahane for the magnificent job he did in Australia. But to the people who are writing against Virat Kohli, I would just like to put up one stat for them. Out of the 20 series that he has captained, he has won 14 series for India. Which means the percentage of win record is over 70%,” Arun quoted as saying to Sports Today.
“Yes, Rahane has done a magnificent job, he’s an outstanding team man. When Virat Kohli is there, he does a pretty good job as vice-captain, he goes and suggests things to Virat and Virat is also very open to suggestions. If you look at captains across all formats, Virat Kohli’s record has to be one of the best ever. All Blacks (New Zealand Rugby team) has about an 80 percent success rate, so after them, Virat Kohli’s record is 2nd across all sports. People who tend to write about him have forgotten what he has done over the years. What has Virat not done? The fitness culture he has brought into the team. Fast bowlers, fielding have all gone up under him,” he further added.
Arun, who has been a part of this Indian team since 2014, also praised head coach Ravi Shastri saying he have also done a lot to transform this team into an ‘absolutely fearless and brutally honest’ unit. “Absolutely, I would like to sum it up this way. This Indian team is absolutely fearless and brutally honest. These are the qualities that are necessary for a team to do well. And there are two men who have gone and brought about this change. It is Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli,” he concluded.
