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Sanjay Manjrekar (Photo Source: Twitter)
Virat Kohli's decision to step down as India's Test captain took the world by storm. Moreover, he's no longer the captain in either of the three formats. However, statistically, he is still one of India's greatest leaders ever.
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As a matter of fact, he has won the most number of games as a Test captain for the Asian side. Besides, he has the fourth-most number of wins as a captain in the longest format of the game. However, Sanjay Manjrekar still doesn't have the 33-year-old in his list of the greatest Indian captains.
During his interview with News18, he explained his choice to put MS Dhoni at the top of his list. Manjrekar felt that the performance of the team during ICC events is what matters the most when it came to judging captains. He also stated that there isn't much pressure during bilateral cricket.
MS Dhoni is clearly one of India’s greatest captains: Sanjay Manjrekar
"MS Dhoni is clearly one of India’s greatest captains. I judge captains generally on international cricket and also on ICC events. Because that’s when you are really tested. When you are playing bilateral cricket, you are going to the office and coming back. There is not much pressure there. But ICC events, that is where Dhoni has been tremendous. Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Saurav Ganguly and Virat Kohli," said Sanjay Manjrekar.
The cricketer-turned-commentator then felt that the likes of Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar were better leaders than Kohli. However, he did mention the fact that the batting maestro has been also been a very good skipper.
"So when we talk about all-time greats, it would be very unfair to not count Dhoni in that. Kapil Dev at a time when there was an inferiority complex at the world level. Saurav Ganguly after the match-fixing era gave India some overseas wins. Sunil Gavaskar also. So these are all great leaders. You live in an age where there are a lot of platforms, so the hype is more. But Indian cricket didn’t start 10 years back. These are guys that I believe have been better captains than Virat Kohli who has been very good in his own right," he said.