'I Think Virat Kohli Is Making A Mistake By Being A Captain' - Shoaib Akhtar Recalls His Message To Anushka Sharma

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said he was initially doubtful of Virat Kohli taking up the captaincy of Team India. Kohli was given the Test captaincy on the 2014/15 tour of Australia, and white-ball captaincy in 2017.

Since his rise in Indian cricket as perhaps the best batsman of the generation, the Delhi-born was always touted to take over from MS Dhoni. However, Shoaib Akhtar had his reservations about Kohli getting bogged down by the weight of being the captain and had conveyed the same concern to the skipper’s wife Anushka Sharma. But. now he is happy to see Kohli leading India successfully across formats.

“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.

“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,” Shoaib Akhtar told Sportskeeda.

He wants to see his aggression in his fast bowlers: Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar hails Virat Kohli’s work in assembling unarguably India’s greatest-ever fast bowling troupe. He talked about how the Indian skipper has installed an aggressive pace-attack capable of taking down any opposition anywhere in the world.

This depth in the strength of India’s pool helped the team win a couple of Test series in Australia. In the upcoming months, they will look to create history in England and South Africa as well.

“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 actually 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,” the 45-year-old former speedster stated.

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