Laxman Sivaramakrishnan decodes the captaincy styles of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has explained the difference between leadership styles of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his successor Virat Kohli. MS Dhoni is arguably the best captain in the history of both Indian and world cricket. He is the only captain to win all the ICC events (World T20 2007, ICC Test mace in 2009, 2011 World Cup, and 2013 Champions Trophy). He has all led the Men In Blue to two Asia Cup triumphs in 2010 and 2016 respectively.

Kohli on the other hand became Team India's full-time captain in January 2017. Under his reign, India were the top-ranked Test side from October 2016 to May 2020. He had also led India to their first-ever bilateral ODI series win in South Africa (2018) that were followed by maiden Test and bilateral ODI series wins in Australia later that year. 

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Laxman Sivaramakrishnan on Virat and Dhoni

While speaking to an Indian news channel, Sivaramakrishnan went on to say that Virat Kohli makes a lot of changes, and when MS Dhoni used to be the Indian captain, he would not make too many changes. Shiva then mentioned that the batting megastar likes to make changes as he believes in 'Horses for Courses' and therefore, he picks different players on different pitches but all in all, the top-ranked ODI batsman has had lots of success because his bowling (bowling attack) has been of really high standards.

At the same time, the former left-arm spinner also said that India were very unfortunate not to have won an ICC event under Kohli. He has spoken about India's heartbreaking World Cup semi-final loss against the eventual runners-up New Zealand. Apart from that loss, the Men In Blue under Virat Kohli's reign had also lost the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final to arch-rivals Pakistan.

Talking about the semi-final loss at Manchester, the cricketer-turned-commentator added that have been a bit unlucky and that the Indian team  have been coming to the semi-finals and then losing (had also lost the 2015 World Cup semis against the eventual winners Australia). Furthermore, he added that the Men In Blue lost to New Zealand in the last four which was a bit unfortunate but he reckons that India have been very consistent over a period of time.

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(Image Courtesy: AP)