Removing Virat Kohli From Captaincy Will Be An Absolute Crime Against Cricket: Graeme Swann

Former England spinner Graeme Swann has come in defense of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, stating that remove the latter from leadership duties will be an absolute crime against cricket.

Skipper Virat Kohli has once again come under fire after Team India lost the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand.

The moment India lost, social media users started calling for Virat Kohli to be sacked from leadership duties.

Kohli is the most successful Indian Test captain, having led the team to 36 wins in 61 games and 15 defeats.

His W/L ratio (59.01) as Test skipper is the third-best in the world among captains’ who have led their team in 50+ matches.

Under Kohli’s leadership, Team India enjoyed the numero uno spot in Test rankings for 46 consecutive weeks and he has also won three Maces in the process.

“Virat Kohli is an absolute champion and a superstar. He has added steel to the Indian team. You only have to see his passion whenever a wicket goes, his face when there is a misfield. He is 100 percent committed to the job,” Swann told SportsKeeda.

“To get rid of Virat Kohli at the moment, when you have such a good captain, would be an absolute crime against cricket. I don’t think they should look elsewhere. India lost that game because they were underprepared and under-cooked going into that Test match.” he added.

As far as India’s defeat to New Zealand in the WTC final is concerned, Graeme Swann singled out India’s lack of preparation as compared to New Zealand for the result.

India played just 1 intrasquad game leading into the final while New Zealand were battle-hardened, having played a couple of Test matches against England.

”India just had net practice in Southampton. Nothing beats preparing for a Test match like actual Test match play. So New Zealand had everything in their favour when it came to who was going to win that game. That showed during the five days as India looked slightly rusty especially some of the batsmen,” said Swann.

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