Virat Kohli is a fantastic leader, will score big runs soon: Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid, head coach of the Indian
cricket team, lavished praise on Indian Test captain Virat Kohli on the eve of
India’s second Test against South Africa at Wanderers, Johannesburg. Dravid said
Kohli is a “fantastic leader” and has been phenomenal despite
“all the noise around him” and will soon find his form back with the
bat.

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Kohli has been out of form in Test cricket
since December 2019 and has not hit a hundred since then. He has also recently
found himself at loggerheads with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and the
selection committee since losing the white-ball captaincy to Rohit Sharma.

 ‘Kohli is keeping the team’s morale high’

“I know there’s been a lot of noise on
other issues outside of the group, even leading into this particular Test
match. But honestly, in terms of keeping the morale high, it’s not been very
difficult because it’s been led by the skipper himself,” Dravid said on
the eve of the second Test.

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“Virat has been absolutely phenomenal
over the over the last 20 days that we’ve been here. The way he’s trained the
way he’s practised the way he’s connected with the group. He has been
phenomenal and I could not speak more highly of him,” added the former
India captain.

 ‘Kohli is a fantastic leader’

India lead the ongoing series 1-0 but Kohli’s inability to convert starts over
the last two years and his play outside the off stump has remained the talking
point.

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“…the way he’s committed to his own
preparation, his own practice. And also just the way he’s connected with the
group over the last two weeks on and off the field. He has truly been a
fantastic leader.

“So, that’s really helped in creating
a really good space leading into the first Test match. A lot of that was led by
Virat and his leadership really came to the fore. It’s been a pleasure to work
with someone like him,” said Dravid.

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The former India captain sees Kohli scoring
hundreds very soon, something he has not done in over two years.

“Even personally, he’s in a really
good space and even though he sort of batted well and couldn’t convert those
starts, I feel there’s going to be really good scores coming in from someone
like him.

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“Just observing him around the group,
how relaxed, how calm he has been and how he’s preparing and how switched on he
is, it (big score) might not happen in the next game. I would really hope it
happens in the next game,” said Dravid.