Chris Gayle hails Virat Kohli as an inspirational leader

Virat Kohli took over the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni back in December 2014 after which he became the all-format skipper from January last year. He hasn’t disappointed in the role by any stretch of the imagination and his batting has also improved leaps and bounds as his career has progressed. He is currently captaining the national team in their opening Test against England in Birmingham.

He scored 149 runs from 225 deliveries in the first innings and helped India out of a precarious situation. India are currently chasing a tricky target of 194 and still need 84 runs to emerge victorious. The onus is again on the Indian skipper to shepherd the team through to glory. Meanwhile, Chris Gayle, the Windies batsman, hailed Kohli’s leadership skills and the unflinching approach he employs on the cricket pitch.

He has the ability to inspire his whole team

“Virat as a captain is not in the face of his teammates. He lets you do your (own) thing. He is fearless and that shows in his cricket. Mentally he is very strong. When you can get your players to fight for you and your country, that’s when you are a good leader. He is definitely inspirational,” Gayle was quoted as saying in The Times of India (TOI).

“I saw highlights of Virat’s knock and it was just fantastic. He has the ability to inspire his whole team. The way he batted with the lower order on Thursday, it just showed that his batting partners wanted to perform for their captain,” the 38-year-old added.

Back in 2014, Virat toured the nation for a five-match series against the Brits. The journey turned out to be forgettable for the Delhi-born cricketer as he couldn’t contribute anything with the willow. However, the cricketer buckled down to improve his cricketing prowess and is currently one of India’s most dependable batsmen in international cricket.

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