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Virat Kohli must lead India in Tests and ODIs, says Ian Chappell

Virat Kohli recently led India to a 2-1 Test series win in Sri Lanka.

Virat kohli (Left) took over from MS Dhoni (Right) as India's Test skipper © AFP
Virat kohli (Left) took over from MS Dhoni (Right) as India’s Test skipper © AFP

Former Australia skipper Ian Chappell believes that Virat Kohli should lead India in Tests as well as One-Day Internationals (ODI). Kohli was appointed skipper of the Test team after MS Dhoni retired mid-way during India’s tour of Australia 2014-15. Kohli since then has won the a Test series in Sri Lanka, for the first time since 1993. “Captaincy is fairly similar between Test cricket and 50-over cricket. So I would have thought, it would have been in Kohli’s best interest and India’s best interest… If you want to keep playing Dhoni in one-day cricket, fine, I don’t have a problem with that. But I really think Kohli should be captain of both Test and One-day cricket,” Chappell said in an interview to ESPNcricinfo. READ: India vs South Africa 2015, 1st ODI at Kanpur, Preview: Under-fire hosts seek positive start

“The only way to get better as a captain is to do the job… and you will make some mistakes more, everyone makes them. But that’s the way one progresses. You learn from your mistakes than you do from your success as a captain. So there is an argument that if you are going to make Kohli the captain in the longest form of the game, it’s not going to hurt having him captaining in the 50-over game,” Chappell added. READ: MS Dhoni: Ajinkya Rahane will either bat in top 3 or not play at all

Former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar too was critical about Dhoni’s position in the Indian side. “He [Dhoni] has been a great player for India, but you don’t want him to become a liability for the team. And he needs to perform a lot better than he has been. Just because he has done it over the years, doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to fail,” Agarkar said. READ: India vs South Africa 2015, 1st ODI at Kanpur: India aim for turnaround

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