The Indian Team Wouldn't Have Won The Border-Gavaskar Trophy If Virat Kohli Would Have Led The Side In All Four Tests- Ashok Malhotra Lambasts The Indian Skipper

Former Indian cricketer Ashok Malhotra has said that team India would not have won the Border-Gavaskar trophy if Indian skipper Virat Kohli would have captained the team in the entire series. Notably, Virat Kohli had traveled back to India after the first Test in Adelaide as he was granted a paternal leave by the BCCI.

After team India’s shameful defeat at Adelaide, the Men in Blue scaled a massive comeback in the series as won the four-match series 2-1. The Indian Cricket Team won the second Test in Melbourne before drawing the third Test match in Sydney. In the final game of the series, team India won the Test match and thus, won consecutive Border-Gavaskar trophies.

Ashok Malhotra Reckons Ajinkya Rahane’s India Could Be The Only Team To Do The Miracle In Australia

Speaking exclusively on CricketAddictor, Ashok Malhotra said, “There will be a bit of pressure on Virat Kohli because of how Ajinkya Rahane led the Indian team in Australia. However, Ajinkya himself, is a very low-profile cricketer and Virat Kohli anyways, is a superstar. The way Rahane is now giving statements, he seems to be very apologetic that he captained India in Australia.”

“The fact is that Virat is the captain and it’s his team. Somewhere down the line, the team under Ajinkya Rahane was the Indian team. Now, this team is Virat’s team. So that is the difference. There were eleven guys, one for all, all for one and they did the unbelievable (in Australia), which we might have not been able to do if Virat would have been there because I have never seen Ashwin or Cheteshwar Pujara around Virat when he’s captaining because he’s too big for them,” Malhotra further stated.

“He does not give them much importance, whereas, Ajinkya Rahane was a common man who was leading and they all rallied around him and that’s why India won,” Ashok Malhotra added.

Team India Did The Unthinkable In Australia

The Indian Cricket Team pulled off one of the bravest wins ever in their history of Test cricket when they recently crushed Australia in the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Bruised and burdened with injuries, the Indian team was one of the weakest lineups on paper when we compare the sides that have previously traveled to Australia.

However, their fighting spirit was second to none as young Indian guns came out blazing at the Australians in what proved to be one of Australia’s most shambolic and humiliating defeats in their rich history of Test cricket. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the Indian youngsters wreaked havoc in Australia and the Kangaroos were caught off guard.