Captaincy made me think more about Team India: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli became the Test captain after MS Dhoni retired from the format at the fag end of 2014 after the MCG Test versus Australia. From January 2017 onwards, the Delhi-born became the ODI and T20I skipper as well. The responsibility has rubbed off positively on his batting. During that stint, he racked up runs at will in the limited-overs versions, stamping his sheer authority.

In Test cricket, he got his seventh double century, the highest by an Indian batter, albeit he is quite some way away from Don Bradman’s huge tally of 12 double tons. Virat accomplished the feat in the second Test against South Africa at the MCA Stadium in Pune. He got an unbeaten 254 in the first innings, which also happened to be his highest score in the most traditional format.

I used to struggle initially to get big scores, says Virat Kohli

Quite expectantly, Kohli is in a positive frame of mind after the knock and getting to the milestone. The bearded beast said that in the start of his career, he had his travails, scoring big. However, as per him, it’s the captaincy mantle that has given him the sense of responsibility and now he processes his thinking with the national team as his priority. And that has led to him, batting more.

“Feels great obviously. It’s a nice little thing to become the Indian batsman with the most number of double centuries in Tests. I used to struggle initially to get big scores, but as soon as I became the captain, I started to think about the team. And when it happens you end up batting more than you can imagine,” Virat was quoted as saying in a video posted by the BCCI.

All double centuries are great

Kohli shared a stand of 225 runs with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored a masterful 91, and their stand helped the hosts post 601 on the board following which they declared. Thereafter, it was the turn of the pacers- Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami- to pick up three Proteas’ wickets. Meanwhile, Kohli didn’t rate the double ton as his best and rather chose the ones in Antigua and Mumbai.

“Overall, I am very happy. It was a very dominating day for us again. We are in a top position. If you keep thinking about the team, you just do whatever is best. All double centuries are great, but if you ask me, my top two double hundreds would be against West Indies in Antigua and against England in Mumbai,” the 30-year-old batter said.

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