Former England spinner Graeme Swann has backed Virat Kohli to continue as captain despite Team India’s loss to New Zealand in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton.
India went down to the Kiwis by eight wickets in the WTC final despite two full days of play being lost to rain. This was Virat Kohli’s third failed attempt to win an ICC crown as captain. The team led by him had earlier finished second in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan and the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.
In the wake of India’s latest meltdown in an ICC crunch game, the knives are out against Kohli the captain. However, according to Swann, Kohli is the best option India has as leader right now.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, the former cricketer stated:
“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. (Look at) His face when there is a misfield. He is 100% committed to that job. 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.”
Kohli also came under fire for his individual performance with the bat. He was dismissed for 44 and 13 in the WTC final, falling both times to Kyle Jamieson. The Indian captain’s under-par batting in key ICC games has again come to the fore. He was out for single-figure scores in the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup semi-final.
New Zealand had everything in their favor going into the WTC final: Graeme Swann
In the wake of India’s painful loss in the WTC final, question marks are being raised over Team India’s combination for the big match. Swann admitted that Kohli’s team perhaps missed a trick by not playing a swing bowler under conductive conditions, and going in with two spinners instead.
He, however, pointed out that New Zealand already had a massive advantage going into the WTC final, having featured in two Tests against England. Swann explained:
“Having played a lot of cricket with the Dukes ball I know that if you have a swing bowler, he will be very dangerous . That is what Tim Southee is and Trent Boult is. Yes, maybe India missed a trick there. But it is very tricky when you think New Zealand had that two Test matches against England building up to this game. They knew their combination and were favorites for this Test match because of that.
“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 favor 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.”
India were rolled over for 170 on the reserve day of the WTC final in Southampton. The Kiwis chased down the target of 139 without much trouble, to be crowned inaugural champions.