Sunil Gavaskar backs Virat Kohli to break Clive Llyod's record of unbeaten 27 Tests

Former legendary batsman and Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar hailed Virat Kohli’s wonderful leadership skills after Team India defeated Bangladesh by 208 runs in the only test to win their 6th Test series on a trot. Courtesy this victory, Kohli has also taken his unbeaten streak as a captain to 19 Tests just behind former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting with 22 wins and former Caribbean captain Clive Llyod with 27 wins. He also overtook MS Dhoni’s record of most successive series wins across all formats for an Indian captain.

The Modern Master also became India’s 3rd most successful captain in Tests after winning his 15th Test as a captain. Gavaskar was confident that Kohli will make it 19 wins at the end of the Australia series. He also felt that Kohli might go on to break Clive Llyod’s record of leading his team to 27 successive unbeaten Tests. “I think Virat Kohli’s unbeaten run as captain is going to extend. He has a good chance of equalling Clive Lloyd’s record,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying during an interview with NDTV.

Llyod led West Indies to 27 unbeaten Test from 1982 to 1984 with the southpaw captaining them in 26 out of the 27 Tests. Viv Richards captained them in one Test during his absence. The Test match win against Bangladesh handed India their 6th successive series win and Gavaskar was pretty impressed with India’s performance but said that the match could have finished earlier had India bowled first.

“If India had bowled first, the match could have finished earlier. The way Umesh was bowling in his opening spell was absolutely terrifying. Bangladesh has done themselves no harm with the way they played. They played some ordinary shots in the second innings, including one from their captain,” Gavaskar stated.

Also read: Suresh Raina withdraws his name from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Despite India being the overwhelming favourites for the upcoming 4 match Test series against Australia, Gavaskar cautioned India from taking Australia lightly and said that the visitors won’t go down without a fight. “Australia series won’t be a cakewalk for India. The Aussies won’t lie down without a fight,” Gavaskar concluded.

The series is scheduled to kick off on 23rd February with the 1st Test to be played in Pune.