Kapil Dev is confident about India's fortune in overseas conditions under Virat Kohli's captaincy

Former India all-rounder Kapil Dev asked Team India to do what has been working for them so far in home conditions without thinking about failures in the past on overseas tours as well. Dev’s suggestion came just a month before India’s tour of South Africa.

Earlier, the Indian team lost Test series between 2013 and 2015 against all top teams- South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia respectively. No Asian team has won a Test series in overseas conditions, except India who had defeated New Zealand 1-0 in 2009.

Since 2014 England tour, the Indian bowlers and batsmen struggled to settle down. Indian skipper Virat Kohli also admitted that in the 2014 England tour Indian batsmen were exposed to swinging conditions. Kohli himself acknowledged that his struggle against the English pacers in the five-match series was series was nightmarish.

Following the tour of England, the Delhi batsman has become a transformed cricketer. He is now the batting leader of the team since Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar bid adieu the game. Kohli during the tour of England managed to score only 133 runs in five Tests and kept throwing his wicket away to the outside the off stump delivery.

India got the positive vibe

However, ever since he has become the skipper of the Indian team, they have not lost a single series at home. India in 2016-2017 home series defeated New Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh at home to grab the No. 1 rank in ICC Test rankings.

“They [Indian team] should just play the way they are playing today. They don’t have to think about the struggles of the past. They have to remain positive,” Kapil told International Business Times India in Bengaluru on Saturday, November 4.

Kapil is confident that Kohli will lead the team with the bat in overseas conditions. The 29-year-old silenced his critics after his forgettable tour in England with four back-to-back centuries against Australia Down Under during the 2014-2015 tour.

The former World Cup-winning all-rounder also praised the way Kohli has bee managing the fast bowlers. The likes of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are going to be crucial to India’s chances abroad and all four of them so far have repaid faith on their captain.

Kapil is not willing to compare the World Cup winning captain of India MS Dhoni with Virat Kohli.

“I don’t think we have to tell Kohli what to do. He is smart enough. He will adapt to different conditions,” Kapil said. “We can see that, as long as he keeps winning, he is the best [when it comes to handling pacers]. At the moment he is doing so well. There is no need for a question mark in our mind,” he stated.