Team India captain Virat Kohli can be a little sober, says Arjuna Ranatunga

Colombo: Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has said that Team India captain Virat Kohli could be sober when it comes to leading the national side.

“I prefer him to be a little sober. I don’t think he will agree with me, but we have a culture in our world. You take India, Sri Lanka, we have a different culture, we are not aggressive as the Australians or the English.You need to be aggressive when you have to be aggressive.

“You don’t have to show a lot of aggression as a captain all the time, that can drain through the entire system,” he said.

“I have seen him (Kohli) as a batsman but I still can’t rate him as a captain; as a batsman, I rate him very highly. I am not putting him down as captain but he has a long way to go to achieve a lot of things.

 “If you want me to compare him now with Indian top captains like (Mohammad) Azharuddin, Dhoni and if I take captains of my time like Kapil Dev, he has a long way to go. I still feel they were really top-class captains”, he added.

Ranatunga had earlier stated that he was never concerned about match-fixing during the ICC World Cup 2011 final between India and Sri Lanka. He confirmed that there were issues pertaining to the title clash, and people had to raise those issues.

“When it comes to the 2011 World Cup final, I never said I was concerned about match-fixing. I said there were issues, address the issues. It is not my issues, the entire country saw it. I am not taking the credit away from India at all,” he said in an interview to Scroll.in.

He also added that his heart stayed with Sri Lanka, but India were a better side.

 “My heart says Sri Lanka but India has the best side. But unfortunately, the way we approached that game and some of the things that happened in the final, I was not comfortable. So I said, these are the things the ICC should get into. I never said match-fixing,” the 53-year old commented.

The former World-Cup winning captain had earlier speculated that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 final in Mumbai was fixed. However, he received criticisms from Indian cricketers, including batsman Gautam Gambhir and bowler Ashish Nehra, who brushed aside the allegations.

Ranatunga also admitted that he stopped watching Sri Lankan cricket. “To tell you honestly, I’ve stopped watching Sri Lankan cricket. I read the newspaper, but I hardly watch cricket.”

“A lot of people don’t watch cricket. You can imagine, if I’m not watching cricket, how can you expect the others to watch cricket? That is nothing to do with the cricketers. It’s all about bad and wrong administration,” he further stated.

Ranatunga also spoke about the importance of the relationship between coach and captain.

“I don’t know why they have all the changes, but ultimately the captain runs the show. The coaches are there to only guide, but if the coaches are going to run cricket, then it’s a disaster. Coaches are there, they have a different job, but ultimately the vehicle is driven by the captain.

The coach can be the conductor, but not the driver. When the coach tries to be the driver, that’s an issue you’re going to face,” he opined.

“I always wanted a coach to support us, do the coaching part. Selections have to be done by the chairman and the captain, ultimately the captain should be given the authority to pick the side. If something goes wrong, the captain takes the blame,” he concluded.

Virat Kohli and co, who are currently in Sri Lanka for three Tests, five ODIs and one T20, have already clinched the Test series 2-0 with one match to play. The third Test will begin on August 12.