SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Virat Kohli says his team mates will determine the success or otherwise of his captaincy when he takes charge of India in place of Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the first test against Australia next month.
The 26-year-old batsman will make his test captaincy bow in Brisbane on Dec. 4 while Dhoni sits out the first of the four matches in the series to recuperate from a hand injury.
“I’m pretty confident of the ability the guys have,” he told reporters yesterday in Adelaide, where India open their tour with a two-day match against a Prime Minister’s XI starting today.
“It’s up to me how I handle them, how I handle different situations.
“As long as the team backs me and puts in the performances we want, I think I’m going to look good at the end of the day.
“I don’t see any issues on why I can’t be up to the challenge.”
Kohli was very much the test rookie alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman on India’s last tour of Australia in 2011-12.
He ended up being one of the few bright lights for the tourists as they slumped to a humiliating 4-0 sweep, however, and scored his maiden century in the fourth test in Adelaide.
Unlike many of his team mates, Kohli has the experience of playing on the hard Australian decks and in front of the vocally hostile crowds.
In 2012, he was fined half of his match fee in the second test in Sydney for responding to barracking from the crowd by gesturing at them with his middle finger.
After his Adelaide century he said his innings was a fitting riposte to ‘drunken’ Australian fans who had heckled him from the stands throughout the series.
“I’m certainly expecting it again,” Kohli said. “I loved it. Once you perform in those conditions, the people love you here and they love a good fight.
