Virat was handed over captaincy for the first test versus Australia in Adelaide played in 2014. Now, for the fourth test of the same series, he has got this role permanently as Dhoni has retired form the test format and Virat will now get a long run at captaincy.
First test: Australia won by 48 runs (Ravi says ignore scoreline, see how well they fought. Well done Virat and Team for fighting it. Virat has begun on a very impressive not and the management are happy)
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/engin ... 54737.htmlHis batting was top class scoring 115 and 141 in the first test. Captaincy clearly did not affect his batting. In fact, i would say his knock was one of his best even with the pressure that captaincy brings. Most were of the opinion that Dhoni did not handle bowlers well and hence their performance suffered. However, Aussies declared the first innings after scoring 517 runs for loss of 7 wickets. In the second innings Indian bowlers could only manage to pick 5 wickets. Just 12 wicket in two innings. Not really expected from a captain who was touted as the India's best captain for pace bowlers. It was just his first test and Chiku will learn captaincy gradually given more time and then we will see results overseas. He leads the bowlers very well and is a a good leader of the team. Also he is more aggressive than Dhoni so only better overseas records can happen. Even better than Saurav, i guess.
For the moment whatever happened in first test, let us just Ignore it like Ravi says ..... "I am not bothered about the scoreline because of the way they have played. I have seen teams in the past, where we have gone down, buckled under pressure and there has been no competition whatsoever. Here they have taken the attack to the opposition,".
and
"Everyone in Australia came to know that this Indian team has not just come out here to play cricket. They have come out here to compete and look to try and win. And that is the most important thing for me.
The scoreline doesn't matter."So we can take it that overseas results won't count for Virat as well like they did not warrant a timely change in Dhoni's captaincy. And that freedom from Director of cricket will help Virat and Team India for not playing any kind of performance oriented pressure. Bring on the fourth test and the superb fight.
Looking forward to post and discuss about the positives and negatives of Virat's captaincy in future matches.
Test FL's - 8 , ODI and Tests Combo FL's - 1, ODI World Cup - 1, ODI FL's - 7, ODI and T20i combo FL's - 1 ,
T20 Franchisee FL's - 7, T20i Cup FL's- 1, T20 FL's- 5 , 50 Overs Domestic FL's - 1, 40 Overs Domestic FL's- 1