Ajit Agarkar claims MS Dhoni failed at backing fast bowlers in comparison to Virat Kohli

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni recently announced his retirement from international cricket. Statistically, the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman along with current skipper Virat Kohli are two of India’s greatest Test captains in terms of number of wins registered in the format. Ex-Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar recently gave his take on their success and dissected the two captains according to their approaches towards their bowlers.

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Ajit Agarkar differentiates MS Dhoni’s leadership traits from Virat Kohli

Ajit Agarkar recently had an interaction on the Star Sports show Cricket Connected. During the video chat, he said that MS Dhoni was the kind of Indian captain who depended a lot on spinners. On the other hand, he claimed that Virat Kohli is someone who shows more faith in fast bowlers. Ajit Agarkar also believes that Virat Kohli’s focus towards pacers is the reason why India has performed better in overseas conditions in the past few years, thus referring to India’s historic win in Australia back in their 2018-19 tour.

Ajit Agarkar said that Virat Kohli has been an Indian captain for a long time and “we can see how good the results have been”. The pacer said Virat Kohli’s methods might be a bit different than MS Dhoni's, but the key to getting good results as a captain is by showing “faith in your players”.

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Ajit Agarkar’s claims can be categorically deemed true because of the contrasting success of bowlers during MS Dhoni’s and Virat Kohli’s captaincy reigns of the Indian cricket team. While spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja statistically flourished under the captaincy of the former wicketkeeper-batsman, India’s current line-up includes a potent pace attack in the form of Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Burmah.

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in the IPL 2020

Both MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are now scheduled to take part in the upcoming Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season for their respective franchises. While MS Dhoni will be reprising his role as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) wicketkeeper-batsman and captain, Virat Kohli is expected to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they continue their hunt for their maiden IPL title. The IPL 2020 season is currently scheduled to be played between September 19 and November 10 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) across three venues.

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Image credits: MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s image from AP