Indian Test captain Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has made a bold claim stating that the Indian Test team was a side with a defensive mindset during the playing day of the current head coach Rahul Dravid. Rajkumar credited Kohli’s change in approach for helping India become a successful side away from home. 

Speaking on Youtube channel Khelneeti, Rajkumar said, “Indian team had a defensive mindset during Rahul Dravid’s playing days. They wanted to ensure they didn’t lose the series when they toured abroad. Virat Kohli’s approach is to win and hence he plays with 5 bowlers.” 

Speaking about how the captain-coach equation between Kohli and Dravid will work, Rajkumar asserted that the experience of leading India during the Greg Chappell era will be useful for Dravid and he will know that it is the captain’s job to lead the team. 

“Rahul Dravid has seen the Greg Chappell incident. Hence, he knows what the role of a coach is. His job is to make strategies and groom the youngsters. Ultimately it is the captain who has to lead the team,” said Rajkumar. 

The upcoming tour to South Africa will be Rahul Dravid’s first assignment away from home. Dravid took over the top job last month after Ravi Shastri’s tenure came to an end. 

In the first series on home soil, India whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 in the T20I series while winning the Test series 1-0 against the 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) winners. The second game of the same series at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium was the first time Dravid and Kohli joined forces as India registered a thumping 372-run victory. 

India will aim to win a series on South African soil for the first time when the two sides clash with each other in a three-match series starting from December 26. Under Kohli’s leadership, India had won a Test series on Australian soil for the first time in 2018/19.