Colombo: Lauding Virat Kohli for leading India to a historic series win against Sri Lanka, cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar on Tuesday said that the young captain has shown early signs of great leadership with his "pro-active" approach.
India humbled Sri Lanka by 117 runs at SSC to register a series-clinching win against the hosts, their first series victory in the island nation since 1993. It was also Kohli's first win as Test captain and Gavaskar was pleased with the way he handled the team.
"He is very pro-active Test skipper, that's so important. He is looking to make things happen and sometimes they won't happen because that's the nature of the game. But you can see that in the way he makes his bowling changes, you can see that in the way he makes his field placing, he is looking to make things happen, there is not a moment where he is letting the game stagnate and drift," Gavaskar told NDTV.
"So that is the important thing. He is looking to make things happen, to upset the opposition and get him th the advantage and that is a huge plus. Clearly when playing against stronger teams it may not come easy and the test will come then, but the early signs are very very encouraging," he added.
Meanwhile Ishant Sharma (5-54 and 3-32 in the first and second innings respectively), who joined Kapil Dev, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble in the 200-wicket club of India, was criticised for his unnecessary on-field aggression for which he may be suspended for a match or two by the ICC. Gavaskar agreed that a team needs an angry fast bowler but not an ugly situation.
"I agree with that, an angry fast bowler is absolutely necessary because he will come in and bowl flat out fast and do everything. It's just that once you have achieved your aim of dismissing the batsman then that anger has to be contained. And the anger has to give way to joy, give way to delight that you have got the batsman out," the former skipper opined.
"Not that the anger should boil over and create an ugly situation. If that balance can be maintained, nothing wrong at all at having an angry fast bowler, because an angry fast bowler is really really going to rip. And that's what you want, that's what a fast bowler is supposed to do," he said.
